XTbe  TOniverstts  of  Cbicago 

FOUNDED   BY  JOHN   D.  ROCKEFELLER 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNY- 
SON AS  RELATED  TO  HIS  TIME 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED    TO  THE   FACULTY  OF  THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL 
OF   ARTS    AND  LITERATURE   IN   CANDIDACY    FOR    THE 
p   DEGREE    OF   DOCTOR    OF   PHILOSOPHY 

(DEPARTMENT   OF    SOCIOLOGY) 


BY 

WILLIAM  CLARK  GORDON 


CHICAGO 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1906 


XTbe  THnt\>erstt£  of  Cbicago 

FOUNDED   BY   JOHN   D.  ROCKEFELLER 


W     Trfea/s    Of     7SUjy. 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNY- 
SON AS  RELATED  TO  HIS  TIME 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED  TO  THE  FACULTY  OF  THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL 

OF  ARTS  AND  LITERATURE  IN  CANDIDACY  FOR  THE 

DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

(DEPARTMENT  OF  SOCIOLOGY) 


BY 

WILLIAM  CLARK  GORDON 


CHICAGO 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1906 


&tf 


( 


PRINTED  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 


PREFACE 

The  following  pages  were  written  originally 
as  a  thesis  for  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy 
at  the  University  of  Chicago.  It  was  suggested 
by  certain  interested  friends  that  the  subject- 
matter  herein  contained  might  be  of  value  to  the 
students  of  sociology  and  of  literature  included 
in  a  larger  public  than  is  usually  reached  by  the 
conventional  thesis.  The  publication  of  this  lit- 
tle volume  is  the  answer  to  these  kindly  sugges- 
tions. 

The  author  ventures  to  hope  that  readers 
into  whose  hands  this  book  may  chance  to  fall 
may  derive  from  its  perusal  some  of  the  pleasure 
and  profit  that  was  his  in  acquiring  and  shaping 
its  material.  The  footnotes  should  be  omitted 
by  everyone  who  does  not  wish  to  make  it  a  text- 
book. These,  however,  will  be  found  a  necessity 
by  the  careful  student  and  will  suggest  the  rich 
stores  left  in  the  ink-pot. 

The  union  of  sociology  and  literature  here  ex- 
emplified and  defended  is,  we  believe,  more  than 
justified.  It  is  to  be  commended.  The  work 
here   attempted    is   capable   of  almost   indefinite 


V1  PREFACE 

extension,  and,  if  entrusted  to  competent  hands, 
may  prove  of  great  service  to  each  department. 
This  is  a  rich  field  for  the  student,  and  it  is 
already  white  unto  harvest.  The  task  involved 
is  not  for  the  novice,  but  for  the  one  trained  in 
the  peculiar  methods  and  familiar  with  the  facts 
and  principles  of  both  literature  and  sociology. 
It  is  to  be  earnestly  hoped  that  master-workmen 
may  in  due  season  thrust  their  sharpened  sickles 
into  these  waiting  fields  and  gather  therefrom 
rich  and  abundant  harvests. 

W.  C.  G. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    Literature   as    a   Means    of    Social    Ex- 
pression    i 

i.  The  Character  of  Literature n 

2.  What  Literature  Does 15 

a)  Studies  and  Portrays  the  Past     ....  15 

b)  Brings  Society  of  its  Own  Time  to   Self- 

consciousness 24 

c)  Embodies  Highest  Individual  and  Social 

Ideals 32 

3.  The  Methods  of  Literature 40 

II.    Social  Conditions  in  England  in  the  Time 

of  Tennyson 47 

III.  Tennyson's    Idea    of  Man 62 

IV.  Tennyson's  Idea  of  the  Worth  and  Work 

of  Woman 72 

V.    The  Family 82 

VI.    Society v  ...  100 

VII.    Social    Institutions 124 

1.  The  State 126 

2.  The  Church 152 

VIII.    Democracy    and    Progress 178 

IX.    Summary    and    Conclusion 230 

Bibliography 251 

Index        253 


CHAPTER  I 

LITERATURE   AS    A    MEANS    OF   SOCIAL 
EXPRESSION 

It  is  by  no  means  universally  admitted  that 
literature  has  any  value  for  the  student  of  social 
science.  The  litterateur  is,  as  a  rule,  dominated 
by  the  artistic  ideal.  He  insists  that  his  art  has 
a  value  in  and  of  itself,  entirely  independent  of 
any  utilitarian  purpose  it  may  serve.  He  fre- 
quently resents  any  effort  on  the  part  of  the  so- 
cial philosopher  to  seek  in  his  domain  for  facts 
out  of  which  to  construct  a  theory  of  society. 
He  finds  little  justification  for  the  attempt  to  set 
in  relief  the  essential  features  of  the  associated 
life  of  the  people  whom  he,  as  a  literary  artist, 
has  wrought  into  his  picture  of  the  time. 

To  affirm  that  literature  is  a  field  in  which  the 
student  of  society  has  a  perfect  right  to  seek  for 
facts  of  real  significance  for  his  own  science,  is 
to  arouse  the  opposition  of  certain  zealous  de- 
fenders of  literary  art.  For  the  sociologist  to  go 
farther,  and  actually  use  for  his  own  purposes 
the  material  which  has  been  wrought  into  drama 
and  novel  and  poem  by  the  skilful  hand  and  in- 


2        SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TEXXYSOX 

spired  imagination  of  the  maker  of  literature,  is 
to  commit  what  is  considered  a  flagrant  offense 
by  some  guardians  of  high  artistic  standards. 
To  go  even  farther,  and  seek  for  the  ideals  by 
which  the  literary  artist  himself  is  governed, 
the  object  which  he  endeavors  to  accomplish,  the 
motives  determining  his  choice  of  scenes  and 
characters,  times  and  places,  "  to  live  inside  the 
artist  and  see  him  breathe,"  and  then  persistently 
to  ask  for  the  social  significance  of  this  inner  life 
of  dramatist,  novelist,  and  poet  —  that  is  by 
some  considered  an  outrage. 

Yet  the  literary  artist  is  not  a  more  constant 
or  wilful  violator  of  the  command,  "  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  than  are  other  men. 
His  zeal  in  defending  his  realm  against  the  in- 
vasion of  those  whom  he  considers  foreigners 
and  barbarians  is  perhaps  excessive,  but  he  is  con- 
tending for  a  principle  which  is  in  every  way 
worthy  of  his  most  strenuous  endeavors.  The 
continued  existence  and  exaltation  of  his  art  are 
dependent  upon  the  successful  maintenance  of 
that  principle.  He  demands  that  literature  shall 
be  something  more  than  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  a 
clumsy  reformer.  It  is  to  him  something  sacred, 
and  is  not  to  be  "  soiled  by  all  ignoble  use." 
He  knows  well  enough  that,  if  literature  were  to 
become  merely  a  bludgeon  in  the  hands  of  gar- 
rulous   cranks    and    fanatical    propagandists,    it 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE        3 

would  instantly  cease  to  be  literature.  Literary 
history  gives  abundant  proof  of  the  direful  re- 
sults of  such  misappropriation  of  the  form  of 
literary  expression  by  those  who  have  some  pet 
theory  to  advance,  or  some  supposed  reform  to 
advocate.  The  modern  homily  in  verse  or  prose 
even  the  most  charitable  cannot  call  art.  Sam- 
uel Richardson  in  1740  published  Pamela  with  an 
avowedly  didactic  purpose,  but  no  one  today 
would  hesitate  to  say  that  his  work  would  have 
been  more  successful,  if  his  purpose  had  been 
less  didactic  and  more  artistic.  The  didactic 
novel  or  poem  belongs  to  an  earlier  and  lower 
stage  in  the  development  of  literature  than  the 
work  of  artistic  purpose.  To  return  to  that  ear- 
lier and  lower  type  would  be  in  every  sense  a 
calamity.  To  literature  this  would  mean  the 
substitution  of  some  very  poor  preaching  for 
some  very  good  art,  and  it  is  no  secret  that  the 
supply  of  poor  preaching  in  the  world's  market 
today  is  much  greater  than  the  demand.  Fur- 
ther production  of  a  commodity  of  which  there  is 
already  an  over-supply  would  be  a  misfortune, 
and  ought  to  be  discouraged  by  all  who  have  at 
heart  the  real  interests  of  society.  In  this  gen- 
eral calamity  sociology  would  share. 

Literature  and  sociology  need  to  understand 
each  other.  They  are  not  competitors,  but  part- 
ners.    The  closeness  of  their  relationship  has  not 


4        SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

been  generally  recognized,  and  is  not  recognized 
today,  but  it  is  none  the  less  real  and  vital  on 
that  account.  Sociology  would  have  quite  as 
good  a  right  to  guard  its  borders,  and  open  fire 
upon  the  wandering  trespassers  and  tramps  of 
literature  who  seek  to  forage  in  the  ill-defined 
fields  of  the  science  of  society,  as  has  literature 
to  oppose  the  efforts  of  the  sociologists  to  gather 
from  fiction  and  poetry  material  to  be  made  of 
social  service.  The  standards  of  literature  are 
scarcely  in  greater  danger  of  being  lowered  by 
the  prosaic  loquacity  of  the  sociologist  than  are 
the  standards  of  sociological  science  by  the  grace- 
less inaccuracies  and  watery  imaginings  of  much 
that  purports  to  be  literature.  If  the  sociologist 
is  met  by  the  taunt  that  he  cannot  define  his  own 
science,  he  replies  by  asking  the  student  of  litera- 
ture :  What  is  literature  ?  The  period  of  silence 
that  follows  may  well  be  employed  by  both  ques- 
tioner and  questioned  in  earnest  reflection  upon 
the  infinities  and  the  limitations  of  his  own  de- 
partment of  special  study.  Each  department  has 
over  its  head  an  infinite  heaven  to  which  it  is 
related,  and  under  its  feet  a  fertile  soil  in  which 
to  dig.  Both  may  well  give  heed  to  the  words 
of  Carlyle,  who  was  himself  both  a  writer  of 
literature  and  a  student  of  society :  "  Let  every 
man  mind  his  own  business,  and  do  that  for 
which  he  was  made." 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE        5 

Sociology,  then,  may  be  pardoned  if  it  does 
not  assume  an  apologetic  attitude  in  seeking  in 
literature  valuable  material  to  be  used  in  its  own 
department  as  it  deems  best.  A  man  does  not 
apologize  for  taking  what  belongs  to  him. 
Taunts  and  ridicule  are  not  called  for  by  the  con- 
ditions existing  in  either  department.  If  soci- 
ology cannot  define  itself,  neither  can  literature 
define  itself;  for  who  can  point  to  a  definition  of 
literature  which  is  universally  accepted?  There 
is  no  occasion  for  criticism  in  this.  Tennyson 
declares  that  "  nothing  can  be  defined  that  is 
worth  defining,"  and  it  may  be  because  these 
departments  of  knowledge  are  both  so  well  worth 
defining  that  thus  far  definition  has  seemed  im- 
possible. Literature  is  old.  Sociology,,  as  a  dis- 
tinct science,  is  comparatively  new.  What  lit- 
erature has  not  been  able  to  accomplish  for  itself 
in  centuries,  sociology  has  failed  to  achieve  for 
itself  in  the  comparatively  few  years  of  its  ex- 
istence as  a  distinct  branch  of  knowledge.  If 
literature  has  suffered  in  its  artistic  quality  by 
being  made  simply  the  vehicle  of  some  social 
propaganda,  sociology  also  has  suffered  by  the 
misrepresentations  of  makers  of  literature  who 
have  done  much  to  strengthen  the  foolish  im- 
pression that  sociology  means  feeding  tramps 
and  going  slumming.     The  literary  pot  may  well 


6        SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

hesitate  to  dwell  too  long  and  eloquently  upon 
the  blackness  of  the  sociological  kettle. 

The  attitude  of  hostility  or  of  condescension 
on  the  part  of  either  toward  the  other  is  entirely 
without  justification.  It  wholly  misrepresents 
the  true  relation  of  these  two  great  departments 
of  human  knowledge  and  of  social  service.  They 
are  really  friends,  and  are  mutually  helpful.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  they  are  now  rendering  invalua- 
ble assistance  to  each  other,  though  neither  recog- 
nizes its  indebtedness  to  the  other.  The  removal 
of  this  ignorance  would  mean  the  removal  of 
much  of  jealousy  and  foolish  criticism.  Emer- 
son knew  that  "  light  is  the  best  policeman." 
It  is  also  the  best  judge,  arbitrator,  peacemaker. 
It  is  certainly  to  be  hoped  that  in  the  near  future 
some  one  who  combines  the  literary  insight  of 
Frederic  Harrison  with  the  social  wisdom  and 
breadth  of  Thomas  Hill  Green  may  reveal  to  us 
the  close  and  vital  connection  between  these  two 
great  branches  of  the  tree  of  knowledge. 

In  this  study  the  point  of  view  is  primarily 
that  of  the  student  of  society,  and  only  second- 
arily that  of  the  student  of  literature  We  ask: 
How  does  literature  minister  to  social  progress? 
What  estimate  is  to  be  placed  upon  it  as  a  means 
of  social  expression?  These  questions  are,  of 
course,  entirely  distinct  from  such  queries  as 
this:     What  service  has   sociology  rendered   to 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE       7 

literature  ?  —  a  most  interesting  inquiry,  which 
only  a  volume  could  answer  satisfactorily.  Fred- 
eric Harrison,  speaking  of  the  literary  production 
of  the  Victorian  Era,  says :  "  Our  literature  to- 
day has  many  characteristics ;  but  its  central  note 
is  the  dominant  influence  of  sociology  —  enthu- 
siasm for  social  truths  as  an  instrument  of  social 
reform."  x  And  again:  "  For  good  or  for  evil, 
our  literature  is  now  absorbed  in  the  urgent  so- 
cial problem,  and  is  become  but  an  instrument  in 
the  vast  field  of  sociology  —  the  science  of  socie- 
ty." 2  This  is  certainly  of  interest  as  indicating 
the  opinion  of  one  writer  of  authority  concerning 
literature's  debt  to  sociology.  Miss  Vida  D. 
Scudder,  in  Social  Ideals  in  English  Letters,  has 
given  distinct  and  intelligent  recognition .  to  the 
same  indebtedness  in  a  much  wider  field  of  Eng- 
lish literature.  Both  of  these  writers  are  skilful 
literary  critics,  but  the  latter,  at  least,  is  not 
known  to  have  specialized  to  any  extent  in  the 
department  of  scientific  sociology.  It  is  proba- 
bly not  too  much  to  say  that  both  Mr.  Harrison 
and  Miss  Scudder  have  written  from  the  stand- 
point of  literature  rather  than  that  of  sociology. 
One  may  well  question  the  literal  accuracy  of 
Mr.  Harrison's  statement  that  our  literature  "  is 
become  but  an  instrument  in  the  vast  field  of 

1  Studies  in  Victorian  Literature,  p.  13. 

2  P.  26. 


8        SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

sociology."  That  is  certainly  putting  too  strong- 
ly the  truth  which  every  student  of  literature 
must  recognize.  That  the  interests  of  man  as 
man,  and  that  the  interests  of  society,  are  finding 
literary  expression  as  never  before  is  undoubt- 
edly true,  though  it  would  be  impossible  to  deny 
that  social  interests  of  some  kind  have  been  rep- 
resented in  the  literature  of  every  period.  The 
difference  is  one  of  degree  rather  than  of  kind. 
The  attitude  toward  what  we  call  social  ques- 
tions in  the  literature  of  any  period  is  in  general 
a  reflection  of  the  time  in  which  the  book  was 
written.  Some  writers  of  fiction  and  of  verse 
represent  the  advance  guard,  and  some  the 
stragglers,  in  the  army  of  progress;  but  in  gen- 
eral they  hold  the  mirror  up  to  their  own  time. 
The  materialization  in  literature  of  the  mirrored 
image  is  of  great  significance  to  the  student  of 
society,  for  there  he  can  find  concretely  portrayed 
the  men  and  the  manners,  the  conditions  and  the 
conflicts,  the  thoughts,  feelings,  and  ideals,  which 
write  social  history.  Even  before  the  days  of 
Pope  and  Swift  and  Richardson  and  Fielding, 
social  history  was  being  thus  written,  and  since 
their  time  the  remarkable  development  of  the 
novel  and  other  forms  of  literary  expression  has 
given  greatly  increased  opportunities  for  the 
faithful  representation  of  social  facts  and  forces. 
It  would  not  be  safe  to  rely  wholly  upon  poets 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE        9 

and  novelists  for  our  knowledge  of  the  social 
conditions  of  any  period.  The  view  of  an  epoch 
acquired  entirely  from  this  source  would  be  as 
one-sided  and  inadequate  as  a  view  obtained  from 
the  study  of  history  alone.  History  and  litera- 
ture may  be,  and  should  be,  correctives  of  each 
other.  In  fact,  if  certain  modern  critics  are 
right,  very  few  histories  have  ever  been  written. 
Most  books  called  by  this  name  have  been  merely 
records  of  the  accessions  and  dethronements  of 
rulers,  and  statements  of  the  dates  of  great  bat- 
tles, of  the  numbers  killed  and  wounded  on  each 
side,  and  of  the  final  result  in  victory  and  defeat 
for  one  side  and  the  other.  Because  of  the  skil- 
ful manipulation  of  the  figures  by  historians  of 
different  parties  or  nationalities,  we  are  some- 
times left  sadly  in' the  dark  as  to  what  the  real 
facts  were.  Figures  that  "  cannot  lie  "  are  often 
used  by  lying  men,  and  the  result  is,  to  say  the 
least,  bewildering.  But,  as  Mr.  John  Graham 
Brooks,  among  others,  has  pointed  out,  the  great 
and  all-important  periods  of  peace  and  prosperity 
and  progress  have  too  often  found  no  historian 
at  all.  Battles,  which  are  mere  ripples  upon  the 
surface,  have  been  described  over  and  over  again 
with  scrupulous  care,  while  the  great  surging 
tides  of  thought  and  desire  that  cause  the  surface 
movements  of  the  waters,  and  carry  the  ripples 
upon  their  bosom,  have  too  often  been  utterly 


io     SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

ignored.  When  history  shall  have  been  restud- 
ied  and  rewritten,  both  literature  and  sociology 
will  have,  in  history  so  written,  a  storehouse  of 
material  which  will  be  invaluable  for  their  re- 
spective uses.  Whether  this  new  history  shall 
be  written  by  men  who  call  themselves  historians, 
or  by  men  who  call  themselves  sociologists,  is  of 
comparatively  little  importance.  We  want  the 
results;  let  who  will  do  the  work. 

Let  us  frankly  recognize,  then,  that  literature 
is  not  the  only  source  of  knowledge  of  society, 
though  it  is  an  important  one.  Let  us  emphat- 
ically assert  that  the  opinions  formed  as  a  result 
of  the  study  of  this  material  need  to  be  corrected 
by  facts  gained  from  philosophy  and  history,  and 
many  other  departments  of  knowledge.  It  yet 
remains  true  that  literature  is  one  of  the  impor- 
tant documents  to  be  studied  by  the  person  who 
wishes  to  know  the  social  conditions  or  develop- 
ments of  any  period.  In  some  cases  it  furnishes 
perhaps  the  best  means  of  knowing  thoroughly 
the  life  and  thought  of  an  epoch.  If  we  ask  the 
reason  of  this,  we  find  the  answer,  first,  in  the 
character  of  literature  itself;  secondly,  in  the 
work  which  literature  actually  accomplishes ;  and, 
thirdly,  in  the  methods  by  which  literature 
achieves  its  results.  Of  these  the  second  is  by 
far  the  most  important.  The  analysis  and  dis- 
cussion of  this  work  which  literature  accomplishes 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      n 

in  the  portrayal  of  social   life  will  occupy   the 
larger  part  of  this  study. 

I 

First  as  to  the  character  of  literature.  Really 
effective  art  does  not  obviously  strive  after  ef- 
fect. The  actor  who  plays  to  the  pit  may  win 
howlings  of  applause,  but  he  is  not  contributing 
to  the  exaltation  of  his  art  or  the  permanency  of 
his  own  reputation.  The  painter  who  works  for 
the  medal  and  colors  his  canvas  to  please  the 
whim  of  some  influential  member  of  the  com- 
mittee may  gain  the  coveted  bronze,  but  he  sac- 
rifices his  artist  instincts  and  ideals.  What  does 
it  profit  an  artist  to  gain  all  the  trinkets  that" 
were  ever  stamped  into  hideousness,  if  he  loses 
the  seer's  vision  and  the  artist's  power  to  sug- 
gest and  portray?  The  one  who  poses  or  who 
lowers,  for  any  cause  whatsoever,  what  to  him 
is  the  very  highest  standard  of  effort,  by  that 
act  proves  his  lack  of  appreciation  of  what  is 
highest  and  most  enduring  in  his  art.  The  real 
alone  is  permanent.  As  the  perfect  comes  the 
partial  is  done  away,  and  to  leave  any  work 
less  perfect  than  it  is  possible  to  make  it  is  to 
render  it  to  that  degree  transient  and  insuffi- 
cient. 

The  first  demand  that  sociology  makes  upon 


12      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

artistic  standards.  We  have  said  that  if  litera- 
ture were  to  become,  as  Frederic  Harrison  de- 
clares it  has  become,  "  but  an  instrument  in  the 
vast  field  of  sociology,"  the  result  would  be  as 
disastrous  to  sociology  as  to  literature.  Litera- 
ture is  valuable  to  the  student  of  society  because 
of  its  unconsciousness,  its  spontaneity.  It  speaks 
to  us  while  off  its  guard.  Here  as  everywhere 
the  truth  is  the  ultimate  standard  by  which  a 
work  of  art  must  be  judged.  The  writer  does 
not  make  a  conscious  effort  to  portray  truth  in 
the  abstract,  nor  does  he  hold  himself  rigidly  to 
the  recital  of  particular  facts  or  occurrences ;  but 
there  are  certain  great  principles  to  which  he 
yields  obedience,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  if 
his  work  is  really  successful.  It  must  be  "  true 
to  life,"  as  the  hackneyed  phrase  puts  it  —  true 
to  the  laws  of  nature,  thought,  imagination,  emo- 
tion. If,  in  his  endeavor  to  advocate  a  theory, 
he  disregards  these  laws,  his  work  loses  wholly 
or  in  part  its  artistic  quality.  The  laws  may 
not  be  clearly  defined.  There  may  be  a  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  the  validity  of  any  one  of  them, 
but  there  remains  a  residuum  that  is  real,  though 
ill  defined.  To  these  laws  the  true  artist  is  obe- 
dient by  instinct  as  often  as  by  conscious  effort. 
The  portrayal  of  life  in  harmony  with  these  great 
principles  is  the  task  which  is  given  him  by  the 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      13 

ideals   of   his   art,   and   by   his   own   tastes   and 
desires. 

The  serviceableness  of  literature  to  sociology 
is,  we  repeat,  almost  wholly  dependent  upon  the 
faithfulness  of  literature  to  the  artistic  ideal  in 
the  portrayal  of  life.  Mere  description  of  phys- 
ical conditions  and  statement  of  social  facts  have 
their  value,  but  it  is  the  psychical,  elements  for 
which  the  sociologist  looks  most  eagerly  and 
which  he  studies  with  greatest  care.  He  wishes 
to  know  of  what  people  have  been  thinking;  what 
ideals  they  have  cherished  for  the  home  and  for 
the  government ;  how  they  have  regarded  woman ; 
what  attitude  they  have  taken  toward  those  of 
different  rank  and  social  station ;  what  desires 
have  exercised  a  controlling  influence  in  the  lives 
of  men  and  women ;  how  the  emotional  life  has 
expressed  itself  —  all  these  and  a  hundred  other 
things  of  kindred  nature  are  of  very  great  im- 
portance to  the  student  of  human  associations. 
He  insists  that  literature  shall  not  pose.  When 
men  are  not  talking  for  effect,  they  say  what  they 
mean,  and  such  talk  indicates  the  psychical  life 
of  the  speakers.  That  is  to  say,  sincerity  and 
simplicity  are  as  essential  in  art  as  in  religion 
and  everywhere  else  in  life.  When  a  man  says 
within  himself,  "  Go  to  now,  I  will  be  pious  to- 
day," he  usually  makes  of  himself  either  a  hypo- 
crite or  a  fool.     He  seeks  to  cover  himself  with 


14      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

a  mantle  which  has  no  vital  connection  with  his 
real  self,  or  he  wheedles  himself  into  the  belief 
that  he  can  actually  be  one  man  one  day  in  the 
week  and  an  entirely  different  man  the  other 
six  days.  Corresponding  hypocrisy  and  folly  in 
the  writer  of  literature  make  his  work  of  no  value 
to  the  sociologist.  Sunday  piety  in  literature  is 
valueless  in  any  state  of  the  market.  Sociology 
asks,  and  has  a  right  to  ask,  that  novel  and  poem 
be  true  to  their  own  highest  ideals,  obey  the  laws 
of  their  art,  and  portray  the  inner  and  the  outer 
life  as  these  are  in  reality  or  in  potentiality. 

The  demand  that  literature  be  true  to  the  very 
highest  artistic  ideal,  that  it  never  lend  itself  to 
the  mere  propaganda  of  any  doctrine  or  theory 
social  or  otherwise,  does  not,  on  the  other  hand, 
imply  that  novelists  and  poets  should  keep  them- 
selves aloof  from  the  conditions  which  are  the 
subject  of  social  inquiry,  and  the  forces  which 
are  producing  great  social  movements.  Perhaps 
writers  could  not  do  this  if  they  tried.  It  cer- 
tainly would  not  be  desirable  if  they  could.  Most 
books  are  written  primarily  for  their  own  age 
rather  than  for  all  ages.  They  ought  to  reflect 
their  own  time  as  well  as  all  times.  This  is  not 
in  any  sense  a  limitation  upon  their  possibilities, 
but  a  means  of  greater  efficiency  and  power. 
Ruskin  has  taught  us,  with  no  doubtful  emphasis, 
that  truth   and  sincerity  are  primary  requisites 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      15 

of  all  noble  art,  and  surely  the  present  of  the  artist 
is  not  without  its  truth  to  be  expressed.  To 
ignore  or  reject  it  is  to  lose  an  element  of  great 
power  and  value.  The  writer  of  literature  is 
under  obligation,  not  to  sociology,  but  to  his  art, 
to  enter  into  the  intellectual  and  emotional  strug- 
gle of  his  time  and  to  give  to  these  the  most  per- 
fect artistic  expression  of  which  he  is  capable. 

II 

The  value  of  literature  to  the  student  of  so- 
ciety is  largely  explained  by  the  work  which  lit- 
erature actually  accomplishes.  If,  now,  we  ask, 
What  does  literature  do  which  gives  it  this  value 
as  a  means  of  social  expression?  we  get  a  three-" 
fold  answer.  First,  it  studies  the  past  with  most 
scrupulous  care,  and  gives,  or  seeks  to  give,  a 
truthful  portrayal  of  the  life  of  that  past  time, 
often  showing  facts  and  tendencies  which  persist 
in  the  present.  To  do  this  effectively,  the  writer 
must  know  something  more  than  the  battles 
fought  and  the  acts  of  parliament.  He  must 
study  the  conditions  existing  at  the  time  of  the 
great  events  which  many  so-called  historians 
merely  state  and  date.  He  must  know  the  hills 
and  valleys,  the  meadows  and  rivers,  the  farms 
and  the  roads,  the  barns  and  the  houses,  the 
methods  of  life,  the  men  and  the  women  in  their 
inner  and  their  outer  lives,  their  loves  and  their 


16      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

hates,  their  religion  and  their  crimes,  their  cus- 
toms and  their  conventions,  their  mental  strength 
and  weakness,  their  emotions,  passions,  supersti- 
tions, morality,  and  everything  else  that  con- 
cerns the  physical  or  the  psychical  life  of  the 
people  among  whom  the  writer,  in  imagination, 
lives  and  moves  and  has  his  being.  There  is 
no  one  who  is  obliged  to  study  a  past  epoch  more 
carefully,  more  in  detail,  or  more  comprehensively 
than  the  writer  of  literature.  He  has  to  go  to 
many  sources  for  his  material,  and,  when  gained, 
the  various  elements  must  be  fused  into  unity  by 
the  power  of  imagination  and  made  to  breathe 
again  the  breath  of  life.  When  we  remember 
the  many  important  epochs  of  the  past  which 
have  been  thus  recovered  to  us  by  novelists  and 
poets,  we  begin  to  appreciate  the  greatness  of 
our  indebtedness  to  these  benefactors  of  the  race. 
Then,  when  we  think  of  that  subtle,  indefinable 
something  which  we  call  the  "  spirit  of  the  time," 
the  presence  of  which  in  prose  or  verse  does  so 
much  to  make,  and  the  absence  of  which  does 
so  much  to  unmake,  literature,  we  are  still  fur- 
ther impressed  with  the  difficulty  and  the  delicacy 
of  the  task  which  the  literary  artist  has  to  per- 
form. Unless  this  work  is  well  done,  it  is  of  as 
little  value  to  the  sociologist  as  to  the  general 
reader. 

One  of  the  results  of  the  study  of  the  past  is 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE     17 

the  discovery  of  certain  principles  of  progress 
which  are  of  permanent  value.  Sometimes  these 
results  are  negative,  but  chemistry  and  biology 
and  other  sciences  have  taught  us  that  some  nega- 
tive results  may  be  of  as  great  practical  value  as 
some  which  are  termed  positive.  Ignorance  of 
these  negative  results  is  the  explanation  of  the 
repetition  of  many  profitless  experiments  in  char- 
ity, legislation,  and  industry  under  conditions 
similar  to  those  in  which  they  were  formerly  tried 
without  success.  The  waste  of  time,  effort,  and 
money  from  this  ignorance  is  enormous  and  in- 
excusable. While  it  is  not  one  of  the  chief 
functions  of  literature  to  give  information  con- 
cerning the  fruitless  attempts  of  the  past  to  meet 
social  needs  which,  so  far  as  we  know,  are  per- 
manent, as  a  matter  of  fact  the  novels  of  the 
latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  do  record 
facts  concerning  prison  reform,  education,  church 
life,  the  relations  of  classes,  etc.,  a  knowledge  of 
which  would  be  most  helpful  to  the  student  of 
society  today.  These  facts  are  recorded,  not  as 
items  in  a  dry  chronicle,  but  as  expressions  of 
the  life  of  the  time,  and  are  given  in  their  nat- 
ural social  and  psychical  relations.  They  are 
seen  to  be  effects  of  which  the  causes  are  the 
conditions,  sympathies,  desires,  ideas,  of  the  peo- 
ple.    They  are  not  unrelated  happenings. 

Some  positive  principles  are,  however,  almost 


18      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

certain  to  emerge  from  various  efforts  directed 
toward  the  solution  of  a  vexed  problem.  Nega- 
tive results  —  failures,  so  called  —  to  the  critical 
student  are  indices  pointing  to  the  principles 
which  must  be  embodied  in  action,  if  the  desired 
results  are  to  be  obtained.  Methods  are  not  given 
in  detail,  and  no  patent  devices  are  warranted  to 
produce  infallible  and  miraculous  results.  Usu- 
ally failures  and  partial  successes  are  the  neces- 
sary first  steps  to  more  complete  and  perfect  tri- 
umph obtained  after  the  lessons  of  failure,  par- 
tial or  complete,  have  been  learned.  Even  then 
the  triumph  is  not  so  perfect  as  our  theories,  and 
a  priori  arguments  would  indicate  that  it  should 
be ;  for  while  experiments  have  been  tried,  con- 
ditions have  been  changing,  and  they  compel  new 
adjustments  and  adaptations.  The  new  wine  of 
principle  cannot  be  put  into  old  bottles  of  method 
without  disastrous  results  to  both. 

The  study  of  the  past  shows  also  certain  tend- 
encies which  were  not  pronounced  enough  to 
be  expressed  in  great  events  or  in  legislation, 
but  which  nevertheless  were  real  and  important. 
This  drift  is  clearly  revealed,  whether  the  litera- 
ture be  the  embodiment  of  the  present  through  a 
spontaneous  and  unconscious  expression  of  its 
ideals,  or  the  rehabilitation  of  the  past  through 
the  historic  imagination.  It  requires  no  very 
close  or  accurate  knowledge  of  our  time  to  under- 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      19 

stand  that  there  is  today  a  socialistic  tendency, 
meaning  by  that  a  tendency  to  the  acceptance  of 
the  theory  that  the  products  of  labor  should  be 
more  equally  distributed  through  the  public  col- 
lective ownership  of  land  and  capital,  and  the 
public  collective  management  of  land  and  capital.3 
Even  Spencer  believed  this  and  trembled.  Yet 
we  are  confident  that  this  is  not,  after  all,  a  sud- 
den growth.  The  present  conditions  are  per- 
fectly natural  in  the  sense  that  they  have  come 
about  in  strictest  accordance  with  law.  But  to 
go  back  a  few  decades  and  discover  the  acorn 
out  of  which  this  mighty  oak  has  grown,  to  find 
the  influences,  silent  and  unseen,  which  watered 
an/1  nourished  it  —  this  is  quite  a  different  mat- 
ter. This  is  what  literature  does  for  us,  not  per- 
haps consciously,  but  none  the  less  really.  In 
the  conversation  of  peasant  and  priest  and  lord ; 
in  the  attitude  assumed  by  representatives  of  dif- 
ferent classes  toward  each  other;  in  the  aspira- 
tions expressed  by  the  poets  of  the  people ;  in  the 
vague  longings  and  unsatisfied  desires ;  in  the 
questionings  of  what  men  call  "  providence ;  "  in 
the  ideas  of  right,  the  appeals  to  justice  —  in  all 
these  are  the  prophecies  of  changed  conditions, 
and  the  future  dominance  of  different  theories  of 
life  and  property.  These  sources  of  change  and 
progress  are  studied,  understood,  and  expressed 
'Standard  Dictionary,  "Socialism." 


20      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TEXXYSON 

by  the  writer  of  literature  as,  perhaps,  by  no  one 
else,  though  he  may  be  as  ignorant  as  others  of 
their  real  significance  for  the  future.  But, 
standing  actually  or  in  imagination  in  the  midst 
of  the  age  of  which  he  writes,  and  being  keenly 
sensitive  to  the  subtle  but  effective  influences  of 
thought  and  emotion,  he  feels  as  well  as  knows 
and  writes,  so  that  his  words  have  life  as  well  as 
information. 

The  value  of  this  method  of  presentation  of 
truth,  as  contrasted  with  that  employed  by  the 
historical  or  scientific  chronicler  of  fact,  is  ap- 
preciated by  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison,  who  pro- 
tests against  "  the  flat,  ungainly,  nerveless  style 
of  mere  scientific  research."     He  continues : 

What  lumps  of  raw  fact  are  flung  at  our  heads! 
What  interminable  gritty  collops  of  learning  have  we 
to  munch  !  ....  It  would  seem  as  if  the  charge  which 
some  of  our  historians  are  most  anxious  to  avoid  is  the 
charge  of  being  "readable,"  and  of  keeping  to  them- 
selves any  fact  they  know They  [the  scientists] 

are  accustomed  to  lecture  to  students  in  the  laboratory 
in  their  shirt  sleeves,  with  their  hands  in  their  pockets ; 
and  they  believe  that  immortality  may  be  achieved  if 
they  can  pile  up  enough  facts  and  manufacture  an  ade- 
quate number  of  monographs.* 

There  is  reason  for  insisting  that  literature 
possesses  real  scientific  value  for  the  student  of 

*  Victorian  Age,  p.  20. 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE     21 

society  simply  because  it  has  interest  and  vitality, 
and  because  its  ideas  are  well  expressed.  It 
makes  revelations  of  the  silent  influences  and 
tendencies  that  increase  in  power  until  they  find 
expression  in  laws,  events,  and  institutions. 
These  revelations  are  not  less  true  because  they 
are  made  with  purity  of  diction  and  with  genuine 
human  interest. 

It  follows,  as  an  inevitable  corollary  of  the 
above,  that  literature  performs  a  social  service 
of  very  great  value  in  calling  attention  to  crying 
wrongs  that  ought  to  be  righted  and  abuses  that 
ought  to  be  corrected.  In  any  particular  case 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  tell  who  first  comes  to 
a  realization  of  the  injustice  involved  in  any 
social  condition  or  custom,  or  who  first  gives  ex- 
pression to  the  sense  of  wrong  which  is  often 
more  felt  than  reasoned.  The  mere  matter  of 
priority  is  of  little  practical  importance.  It  is 
important,  however,  to  recognize  that  literature 
is  one  of  the  most  effective  means  of  calling  at- 
tention to  social  evils  and  bringing  about  a  better 
state  of  things.  It  performs  this  beneficent  serv- 
ice in  various  ways,  but  especially  by  compelling 
recognition  of  unpleasant  and  hidden  facts,  stim- 
ulating investigation,  creating  public  opinion, 
and  arousing  public  conscience.  It  is  often  af- 
firmed today  that  this  work  is  done  by  the  pulpit 
and  the  newspaper.     There  can  be  no  reasona- 


22      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

ble  doubt  that  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  this 
claim ;  but  this  is  not  saying  that  literature  is  not 
an  efficient  agent  operating  in  the  same  field. 
The  statement  gives  us  no  information  as  to  the 
indebtedness  of  the  pulpit  and  newspaper  to  lit- 
erature for  information  concerning  conditions 
and  for  stimulus  to  effort.  Because  this  indebt- 
edness is  often  indirect  rather  than  direct,  it  does 
not  cease  to  be  real. 

Literature  is  practically  serviceable  in  the  first 
stages  of  a  reform  rather  than  in  a  later,  and 
therefore  often  fails  to  receive  its  due  meed  of 
praise.  After  attention  has  been  called  to  a  so- 
cial evil,  and  people  have  been  made  to  feel  the 
wrong,  the  work  of  formulating  and  enforcing 
laws  is  done  by  others.  Those  who  see  only 
the  visible  results  in  legislation  and  social  action 
forget  the  steps  that  had  to  be  taken  before  the 
first  act  could  be  introduced  into  the  legislative 
body  with  any  hope  of  success.  The  fact  that 
the  successful  writer  of  fiction  and  of  verse  is 
more  sensitive  to  the  changing  conditions, 
thoughts,  and  emotions  of  men  than  others, 
makes  him  a  pioneer  in  the  work  of  social  trans- 
formations. He  feels  sooner  than  others  the  de- 
sires, ambitions,  and  aspirations  which  struggle 
for  expression,  and  which  are  the  sure  prelude 
of  social  changes  corresponding  to  this  psychical 
condition.     Certain  classes  in  society  have  often 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE     23 

waited  long  for  a  poet  to  sing  their  songs;  but 
this  is  not  strange,  for  literature  itself  is  an  ex- 
pression of  social  thought  and  feeling,  and  par- 
takes of  the  character  of  its  makers  and  its  read- 
ers. For  many  years  the  reading  of  books  was 
the  luxury  of  the  few  rather  than  the  necessity  of 
the  many;  but  even  then  society  as  a  whole  was 
influenced  by  literature,  and  not  merely  a  small 
section  of  it,  though  the  lower  classes  were  af- 
fected only  indirectly  through  the  upper  classes. 
Through  whatever  medium  that  influence  may 
formerly  have  passed  it  is  certain  that  for  at 
least  a  century  and  a  half  literature  has  had  an 
appreciable  effect  upon  social  life  and  action. 

It  is  desirable  to  emphasize,  even  at  the  risk 
of  repetition,  the  important  fact  that  literature, 
though  it  may  present  only  the  life  of  a  past 
epoch,  is  a  power  in  the  development  of  society, 
because  it  appeals  to  the  emotional  as  well  as  to 
the  intellectual.  A  cold  and  vulgar  rationalism 
affects  to  despise  emotion  as  an  incentive  to  ac- 
tion, and  maintains  that  in  a  developed  society 
reason  is  everywhere  and  always  dominant. 
Whether  that  type  of  society  would  represent  a 
progress  forward  or  backward,  we  may  leave  to 
others  to  discuss.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the 
individual  living  in  the  society  of  today  feeling 
is  fundamental.  Perhaps  it  is  not  true,  as  Bea- 
consfield   declared,    that   the   world    is   ruled   by 


24      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

sentiment,  but  there  is  so  much  of  truth  in  it  that 
no  one  can  afford  to  disregard  it  who  is  con- 
structing a  philosophy  of  life  that  is  to  be  of  any 
practical  worth.  It  is  not  enough  for  people  to 
know  of  an  injustice  which  they  have  the  power 
to  rectify.  They  must  feci  it  before  they  will 
leave  their  accustomed  routine  to  demand,  with 
an  emphasis  that  means  anything,  that  that  in- 
justice be  done  away.  That  the  demand  must 
be  fortified  by  fact  and  approved  by  reason  no 
one  would  deny;  but  emotion  is  the  spark  that 
sets  reason  on  fire  and  makes  it  efficient  in  the 
destruction  of  evil.  There  must  be  "  noble 
ground  for  noble  emotions ; "  but  neither  the 
"noble  ground"  nor  the  "noble  emotion"  can 
be  spared,  if  efficient  action  is  to  be  secured. 
There  are  not  a  few  who  must  be  made  to  feel 
keenly  before  they  will  think  deeply.  To  neg- 
lect either  one  of  these  two  great  factors  in  social 
progress  would  be  to  put  a  part  for  the  whole. 

Secondly,  literature  does  much  to  bring  the 
society  of  its  own  day  to  self-consciousness. 
Nearly  all  that  has  been  said  of  the  results  of 
the  study  of  the  past  by  writers  of  literature  ap- 
plies with  equal  force  to  the  study  of  the  present. 
Poets  and  novelists  observe  carefully  the  social 
phenomena  of  their  own  day;  separate  the  tran- 
sient from  the  permanent;  give  beautiful  and 
forceful  expression  to  principles  of  lasting  value ; 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      25 

show  the  tendencies  of  thought  and  action,  the 
social  significance  of  customs  and  institutions; 
reveal  wrongs  and  abuses;  voice  the  otherwise 
unspoken  desires  and  aspirations  of  all  classes 
from  the  highest  to  the  socially  submerged;  and 
appeal  to  the  emotions  and  intellects  of  those 
who  ought  to  lead  the  way  to  social  betterment. 
One  of  the  primary  requisites  for  the  writer  is 
an  imagination  which  will  enable  him  to  place 
himself  in  the  midst  of  situations  which  he  has 
conceived,  not  merely  as  a  cool  and  calculating- 
observer,  but  as  an  active  and  sympathetic  par- 
ticipant. He  must  have  the  ability  to  enter  into 
the  characters  he  portrays,  the  scenes  he  pic- 
tures, the  conditions  he  describes.  Thus  to  him 
even  the  past  becomes  present,  because  for  the 
time  being  his  world  is  the  thought-world.  In 
imagination  he  sees  his  visions  and  dreams  his 
dreams.  He  thinks  the  thoughts  of  those  who 
lived  in  a  past  time,  feels  what  they  felt,  endures 
their  wrongs,  is  inspired  by  their  hopes  and  de- 
pressed by  their  woes.  Such  an  one  writes  of  the 
past  with  the  vividness  and  sympathy  and  power 
of  the  present,  because  to  him  the  past  is  the  pres- 
ent, and  he  writes  of  what  he  feels  and  knows. 

If  it  be  said  that  this  imaginative  quality  de- 
tracts from  the  value  of  literature  for  the  student 
of  society,  we  should  remember  that  the  writer 
must  first  study  in  most  careful  detail  the  period 


26      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

of  which  he  writes  before  he  can  safely  venture  to 
put  pen  to  paper.  He  cannot  neglect  a  single 
available  source  of  information  concerning  the 
period  in  question  without  danger  of  injury  to 
the  artistic  product.  He  must  be  the  close  and 
critical  student  before  he  can  be  the  portrayer  of 
life.  M.  Gevaert  declares  that  creation  in  art 
is  memory  modified  by  personality.  If  the  artist 
were  not  first  a  discoverer,  he  would  have  noth- 
ing to  remember  and  vivify  by  the  power  of  his 
personality.  His  merit  is  that  he  gives  reality 
and  life  to  that  which  before  was  vague,  unreal, 
and  dead.  No  one  can  understand  the  past  who 
does  not  possess  and  use  imagination. 

But  imagination  is  almost  as  essential  to  the 
understanding  and  representation  of  the  present 
as  of  the  past.  To  enter  into  the  lives  of  others 
is  a  part  of  the  task  of  the  one  who  writes  of 
his  own  day.  He  must  thoroughly  understand 
the  external  conditions  as  well  as  the  thoughts, 
feelings,  and  desires  of  those  for  whom  he  at- 
tempts to  speak.  He  can  gain  this  result  only 
by  imagination.  To  look  upon  houses  and  fields 
and  persons  and  classes  no  more  gives  an  under- 
standing of  the  inner  lives  of  the  people  than 
the  sight  of  the  crust  of  Vesuvius  tells  of  the 
terrific  fires  that  are  raging  in  its  heart.  To  be 
sure,  it  is  not  a  fool's  task  to  observe  carefully 
and   describe  accurately  the  external  conditions 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      27 

of  life.  But  only  the  "  seer  "  can  discern,  and 
only  the  genuine  artist  can  portray,  the  "  thoughts 
which  do  often  lie  too  deep  for  tears,"  and  which 
arc,  after  all,  the  determining  factors  in  a  social 
condition.     Sight  is  not  so  rare  as  insight. 

This  sympathetic  insight  into  the  heart  of  an 
age,  a  people,  a  class,  is  an  indispensable  pre- 
requisite to  the  one  who  would  aid  in  the  task 
of  bringing  an  epoch  to  self-consciousness.  No 
one  can  interpret  anything  of  which  he  has  not  a 
sympathetic  understanding.  Even  if  this  were 
possible,  people  would  be  very  slow  to  accept  an 
interpretation  of  their  inner  life  that  was  offered 
by  a  cynic  or  an  unsympathetic  critic. 

Interpretation,  if  it  be  truthful  involves  the 
revelation  of  certain  facts  and  conditions  which 
reflect  discredit  upon  the  people.  The  knowledge 
of  these  things  is  always  unwelcome.  The  truth- 
fulness of  the  revelation  is  usually  at  first  em- 
phatically denied,  and  the  denial  is  frequently 
perfectly  sincere.  The  people  were  ignorant  of 
certain  conditions  which  actually  existed,  and 
so  were  unconscious  of  any  criminal  negligence 
on  their  own  part  in  permitting  the  continuance 
of  evils  which  they  might  have  investigated  and 
exterminated.  They  were  unaware  that  their 
own  ways  of  thinking  and  feeling  about  certain 
social  evils  were  the  result  of  traditions  and  con- 
ventions which  were  sanctioned  by  usage  rather 


28      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

than  by  justice  and  right.  They  failed  to  see 
that  these  thoughts  and  feelings  are  a  psychical 
inheritance  from  the  past,  are  out  of  harmony 
with  the  latest  and  best  developments  of  their 
own  age,  and  are  a  direct  contradiction  to  much 
that  is  highest  and  best  in  their  own  standards 
of  thought  and  life. 

The  possibility  of  the  dwelling  together  of 
these  contradictions  in  the  same  mind  without  any 
seeming  recognition  that  they  are  contradictions, 
is  one  of  the  curious  facts  of  psychology.  There 
are  more  than  isolated  examples  of  men  who 
under  the  roof  of  the  church  repeat  the  Golden 
Rule  with  pious  fervor,  and  in  the  market  do 
unto  others  exactly  what  they  do  not  wish  others 
to  do  unto  them.  Many  such  men  do  not  see 
any  real  inconsistency  between  the  repetition  of 
the  formula  and  their  practices  in  business. 
When  such  a  man  sees  in  David  Harum  the  time- 
honored  adage  transposed  to  read,  "  Do  unto  the 
other  feller  the  way  he'd  like  to  do  unto  you, 
and  do  it  fust,"  he  is  startled  into  the  suspicion 
that  some  one  has  been  prying  into  his  private 
affairs.  So  common  is  this  harmonious  cohabita- 
tion of  contradictions  in  the  same  mind  that  when 
a  man  is  found,  like  Jonathan  Edwards,  who  is 
actually  consistent,  we  are  shocked.  Many  theo- 
logians of  his  time  declared  that  God  is  just  and 
good,  and  yet  were  horrified  that  so  large  a  por- 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE     29 

tion  of  the  race  were  foreordained  to  eternal 
damnation  by  this  same  good  God.  Edwards 
saw  that  whatever  a  good  God  decrees  must  be 
good,  and,  as  Professor  W.  L.  Phelps  says,  not 
only  swallowed  the  whole  thing,  but  actually  de- 
clared it  tasted  good.  Edwards  rejoiced  in  the 
damnation  of  the  wicked  because  it  was  the  work 
of  a  good  God,  and  must  therefore  in  itself  be 
good. 

Edwards  was  a  writer  of  literature  as  well  as 
a  powerful  preacher,  and  his,  to  us,  musty  and 
sulphurous  theology  helped  to  bring  the  people 
of  his  day  to  self-consciousness.  When  thoughts 
and  beliefs,  emotions  and  aspirations,  are  objec- 
tified in  literature,  men  are  compelled  to  see  the 
relations  of  part  to  part  as  never  before,  to  har- 
monize contradictions,  and  to  judge  of  particular 
beliefs  and  feelings  as  right  or  wrong,  injurious 
or  helpful,  to  individuals  and  to  groups.  When 
the  inner  life  of  a  people  is  visualized  in  literature, 
the  program  followed  out  is  frequently  something 
like  this :  first  an  indignant  and  wholesale  denial 
of  the  truth  of  the  representation;  then  a  sus- 
picion on  the  part  of  the  more  enlightened  that 
there  may  be  a  grain  of  truth  in  all  the  chaff  of 
exaggeration  and  misrepresentation ;  then  a  care- 
ful investigation  to  ascertain  how  much  is  true 
and  how  much  false;  then  the  diffusion  of  the 
knowledge  of  facts  gained  by  investigation ;  then 


30      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

the  adoption  of  reforms  to  remedy  the  evils  dis- 
covered. 

Besides  bringing-  those  who  had  become  dull 
and  torpid,  by  reason  of  their  long  exclusion 
from  opportunities  of  self-development,  to  a  con- 
sciousness of  the  fact  that  they  are  enduring 
oppression  which  neither  individuals  nor  systems 
have  any  right  to  put  upon  them ;  besides  arous- 
ing people  in  general  to  a  sympathetic  apprecia- 
tion of  the  higher  ambitions  and  possibilities  of 
those  who  are  the  victims  of  injustice  sanctioned 
only  by  ignorance,  foolish  traditions,  and  unwar- 
ranted customs ;  besides  all  this,  literature  acts  as 
a  sort  of  safety-valve  for  the  feelings  of  indigna- 
tion and  wrath,  the  sense  of  injustice  and  wrong, 
which,  if  they  did  not  find  this  outlet,  might 
manifest  themselves  in  ways  more  violent  and 
dangerous.  To  be  sure,  this  is  a  two-edged 
sword  and  may  cut  in  either  direction.  Litera- 
ture may  aid  in  stirring  up  rebellion  and  revolu- 
tion as  well  as  in  quelling  them.  To  determine 
the  exact  influence  of  literature  in  any  particular 
case,  many  factors  would  have  to  be  taken  into 
account,  which  cannot  be  specially  considered 
here,  such  as :  the  form  and  spirit  of  the  literary 
product;  the  direct  accessibility  of  the  literature 
to  those  who  feel  that  they  are  suffering  the 
wrong  which  ought  to  be  redressed ;  the  tempera- 
ment, intelligence,   self-restraint,   and  social  or- 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      31 

ganization  of  the  wronged ;  the  attitude  assumed 
by  those  who,  rightly  or  wrongly,  are  supposed  to 
be  responsible  for  the  oppression,  and  who  would 
profit  socially  or  financially  by  its  continuance. 

All  these  factors  have  an  important  bearing 
upon  the  subject ;  but  the  point  to  which  we  wish 
to  give  special  emphasis  here  is  the  hope  and 
optimism  inspired  in  'those  who  feel  that  they 
have  suffered  injury  at  the  hands  of  society  or 
of  another  class.  This  hopefulness  arises  from 
a  consciousness  that  others  know  of  the  wrong 
endured  and  feel  it  as  a  wrong.  There  is  ground 
then  for  the  belief  that  redress  is  on  the  way. 
To  suffer  alone  without  the  sympathy  of  others, 
from  causes  for  which  the  sufferer  is  not  re- 
sponsible, is  a  dangerous  thing  for  an  individual 
or  a  class.  When  once  a  man  feels  that  every 
man's  hand  is  against  him,  it  is  usually  only  a 
matter  of  time  when  his  hand  will  be  against 
every  man. 

This  perhaps  is  even  more  true  of  a  group 
than  of  an  individual,  because  of  that  mysterious 
influence  which  impels  the  crowd  to  do  what 
would  not  be  done  by  individuals  acting  sepa- 
rately. Feeling  is  inflamed  and  angrily  ex- 
pressed in  a  crowd.  The  individual  takes  a 
sober  second  thought  and  more  rational  meas- 
ures to  secure  the  result  which  he  desires.  To 
give  to  those  who  are  suffering  from  real  or  im- 


32     SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TEXXYSOX 

agined  oppression  assurance  of  sympathy  and 
brotherhood,  to  inspire  them  with  the  hope  that 
here  in  this  present  world,  and  with  as  little  de- 
lay as  possible,  their  wrongs  will  be  redressed 
and  their  rights  to  the  best  things  of  life  will 
be  fully  recognized,  this  is  to  transform  the  mob 
into  the  debating  society  which  has  for  its  ob- 
ject to  discover  social  truth,  or  into  the  peaceable 
union  working  for  the  ends  of  justice  by  legal 
and  rational  means.  This  destroys  the  material 
out  of  which  mobs  and  riots  and  revolutions  are 
made.  To  secure  this  end  literature,  though 
not  the  sole,  is  a  very  efficient  agent. 

Thirdly,  literature  has  a  distinct  value  as  an 
aid  to  social  progress  because  of  its  embodiment 
of  the  highest  individual  and  social  ideals.  The 
power  of  an  ideal  over  an  individual  or  a  race 
is  unmeasured  and  unmeasurable.  Ideals  grow 
and  change  with  the  change  and  growth  of  those 
by  whom  they  are  formed  and  cherished.  The 
nation  whose  ideal  has  been  industrial  may  come 
to  possess  the  ideal  of  conquest  and  empire,  and 
there  is  not  a  village  or  hamlet  within  her  bor- 
ders that  will  not  feel  the  influence  of  the 
change.  James  Lane  Allen  has  a  passage  upon 
the  two  different  kinds  of  ideals  which  is  worth 
quoting  here.     He  says  : 

Ideals  are  of  two  kinds.  There  are  those  that  corre- 
spond to  our  highest  sense  of  perfection.  .  .  .  They  are 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE     33 

not  useless  because  unattainable What  are  they 

like  —  ideals  such  as  these  ?  They  are  like  lighthouses. 
But  lighthouses  are  not  made  to  live  in ;  neither  can  we 
live  in  such  ideals.  I  suppose  they  are  meant  to  shine 
on  us  from  afar,  when  the  sea  of  our  life  is  dark  and 
stormy,  perhaps  to  remind  us  of  a  haven  of  hope,  as  we 

drift  or  sink  in  shipwreck But  there  are  ideals 

of  another  sort As  we  advance  into  life,  out  of 

larger  experience  of  the  world  and  of  ourselves  are 
unfolded  the  ideals  of  what  will  be  possible  to  us  if  we 
make  the  best  use  of  the  world  and  of  ourselves,  taken 
as  we  are.  Let  these  be  as  high  as  they  may,  they  will 
always  be  lower  than  those  others  which  are  perhaps 

veiled  intimations  of  our  immortality It  is  these 

that  are  to  burn  for  us,  not  like  lighthouses  in  the  dis- 
tance, but  like  candles  in  our  hands By  degrees 

the  comforting  light  of  what  you  may  actually  do  and 
be  in  an  imperfect  world  will  shine  close  to  you  and 
all  around  you,  more  and  more.  It  is  this  that  will  lead 
you,  never  to  perfection,  but  always  toward  it.5 

Both  of  these  kinds  of  ideals  are  given  in  lit- 
erature, because  both  are  efficient  in  life.  It 
would  be  useless  to  speculate  as  to  which  is  the 
more  powerful  in  influencing  thought  and  action, 
for  both  are  necessary.  Candles  are  of  greatest 
service  in  revealing  the  nearest  dangers,  but  the 
lighthouse  sends  out  the  beams  which  promise 
infinite  progress  and  inspire  in  the  heart  of  the 
mariner  an  infinite  hope.  Ideals  are,  after  all, 
the  product  of  the  study  of  the  past  and  present, 

B  The  Choir  Invisible,  pp.  312-14. 


34      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

modified  by  the  dominant  intentions  and  the  sub- 
limest  visions  of  a  personality.  It  is  because  of 
this  change  in  ideals,  corresponding  to  the  change 
in  idealists,  that  poetry  and  story-telling  are  a 
perpetual  necessity.  Thus  it  is  that  every  age 
must  have  its  own  novelists  and  poets  to  express 
its  vision  of  the  candle  and  of  the  lighthouse. 
This  seems  to  us  a  great  lack  of  economy.  We 
see  no  reason,  in  the  nature  of  things,  why 
Homer  might  not  have  pictured  the  ideals  of  per- 
fection once  for  all,  and  left  the  poets  of  the 
subsequent  ages  free  to  sing  of  other  themes. 
But  nature,  everywhere  wasteful,  is  as  spend- 
thrift of  poets  as  of  seeds  and  flowers.  Every 
age  has  its  own  candle,  showing  the  obstacles 
and  the  beauties  which  are  nearest.  These  are 
always  different  from  those  which  surrounded 
any  preceding  period.  It  has  also  its  own  pencil 
of  lighthouse  rays  which  are  a  little  brighter  and 
more  luminous  than  any  that  reached  a  former 
age.  "  Every  fall  of  the  race  is  a  fall  upward." 
and  brings  it  a  little  nearer  the  great  source  of 
its  light.  Even  the  pessimist,  who  believes  that 
all  progress  is  negative,  and  therefore  not  prog- 
ress at  all,  but  retrogression,  would  still  admit 
that  every  epoch  must  have  its  own  literature,  if 
its  own  intellectual,  emotional,  and  social  life 
is  to  find  adequate  expression.  The  individ- 
uality of  every  period  is  shown  in  its  ideals  more, 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      35 

perhaps,  than  in  anything  else,  and  nowhere  are 
those  ideals  more  fully  and  definitely  expressed 
than  in  literature. 

It  is  doubtless  a  truism  that  ideals  are  the 
dominant,  transforming  power  in  the  individual 
and  in  society.  The  recognition  of  the  fact  is, 
however,  more  theoretical  than  practical.  If 
this  were  the  place  to  call  attention  to  the  terrible 
need  of  the  practical  application  of  some  of  the 
things  we  claim  to  know  so  well,  we  might  re- 
mind ourselves  that  often  the  essential  difference 
between  the  criminal  and  the  law-abiding  citizen 
is  a  difference  in  ideals.  The  fifteen-year-old 
boy  in  the  Chicago  slums  aspires  to  be  a  "  tough  " 
because  the  men  he  sees  and  knows,  and  those  of 
whom  he  reads  in  his  "  three- for-a-nickel  "  li- 
brary, have  created  in  him  an  ideal  of  manhood 
to  which  the  criminal  alone  corresponds.  That 
we  take  little  practical  recognition  of  this,  which 
we  are  almost  ready  to  call  a  truism,  is  evi- 
denced by  the  fact  that  we  still  allow,  and  by  our 
negligence  encourage,  the  formation  of  these 
ideals  by  permitting  the  sale  of  journalistic 
trash,  and  compelling  the  young  offender  to  as- 
sociate with  desperate  and  hardened  criminals  in 
jails  and  penitentiaries.  It  is  not  exaggeration 
to  say  that  he  is  a  real  benefactor  to  the  world 
who  hammers  in  a  few  such  things  that  every- 
body knows.     Among  these  few  things  are  the 


36      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Ten  Commandments,  the  "  ethical  chestnuts  "  of 
Dr.  Parkhurst.  "  To  say  a  thing,"  says  Goethe, 
"  that  everybody  else  has  said  before,  as  quietly 
as  if  nobody  had  ever  said  it,  that  is  originality. 
The  great  merit  of  the  old  painters  was  that  they 
did  not  try  to  be  original."  Goethe's  originality 
is  in  itself  an  ideal  of  genuine  social  value. 

But  not  only  does  literature  give  expression  to 
the  individual  and  social  ideals  of  the  time.  It 
is  also  one  of  the  forces  which  help  to  create  the 
dominant  ideals  of  society.  Too  much  stress 
must  not  be  laid  upon  this  part  of  the  subject. 
Nothing  must  obscure  the  truth  that  always  the 
primary  purpose  of  literature  is  representation, 
rather  than  creation,  of  life  and  ideals.  The 
poets  especially  give  to  us  the  highest  ideals  of 
their  day,  and  to  the  average  man  these  seem 
to  be  the  creation  of  the  poet,  when  in  reality 
they  are  only  faithful  pictures  of  the  actual  vis- 
ions of  the  purest  and  noblest  souls.  Everyone 
recognizes  that  a  man  sees  only  what  he  is  pre- 
pared to  see,  and  if  the  poets  see  the  highest 
ideals  in  man  and  in  society,  and  give  to  these  a 
beautiful  expression,  they  are  doing  much  to 
make  the  ideals  themselves  a  transforming  power 
in  the  social  world.  By  such  a  revelation  they 
arouse  in  the  minds  of  men  a  desire  to  attain  the 
ideals  portrayed,  and  this  is  a  necessary  first  step 
to  the  actual  attainment.     To  adapt  the  definition 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      37 

of  Gevaert  to  our  purpose,  we  may  say  that  the 
poetic  creation  of  ideals  is  really  representation 
modified  by  the  personality  of  the  poet. 

It  is  to  be  expected  that  the  soul  that  is  clear- 
visioned  enough  to  see  these  highest  ideals  for 
the  individual  and  the  race,  will  also  be  peculiarly 
sensitive  to  all  the  tendencies  and  influences 
which  aid  in  their  attainment  or  which  tend  to 
their  obscuration.  We  have  already  said  suf- 
ficient upon  the  subject  of  the  relation  of  litera- 
ture to  these  influences  and  tendencies  in  speak- 
ing of  the  literary  study  of  the  past  and  the 
present.  The  only  point  to  which  special  at- 
tention need  here  be  called  is  the  relation  of  these 
tendencies  and  influences  to  the  actual  attainment 
of  the  ideals  portrayed.  This  is  really  only  a 
specific  application  of  the  principles  before  stated. 
The  ideals  form  the  standard  by  which  the  in- 
fluences and  tendencies  are  judged.  Whatever 
brings  the  individual  and  the  race  nearer  the 
cherished  ideals  is  approved ;  whatever  retards 
the  progress  in  this  direction  is  condemned.  The 
work  is  therefore,  in  this  aspect  of  it,  partly  de- 
structive and  partly  constructive.  The  construc- 
tive work  is  the  more  positive  and  aggressive. 
The  destructive  work  is  as  often  accomplished  by 
neglect,  scorn,  or  refusal  to  approve,  as  by  posi- 
tive condemnation. 

No  one  who  has  thought  upon  the  subject  can 


38      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

have  failed  to  have  noticed  the  chasm  between 
the  ideals  presented  by  literature  and  the  actual 
conditions  at  any  particular  time.  We  are  com- 
pelled to  ask:  How  can  this  chasm  be  bridged? 
To  this  question  literature  gives  no  satisfactory 
answer.  That  the  chasm  is  deep  and  wide  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  but  in  our  difficulty  we  must  go 
to  someone  other  than  the  poet  or  novelist  for 
help.  Here  we  find  one  of  the  undoubted  limi- 
tations of  the  usefulness  of  literature  to  the  prac- 
tical worker  for  the  betterment  of  society.  While 
the  crowd  is  wallowing  in  the  mire,  the  poet  cries : 
"  I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the  mountains." 
That  is  a  cry  of  confidence  and  hope  and  cheer. 
It  gives  strength  and  courage  for  effort,  but,  un- 
fortunately, it  does  not  lift  the  wallowing  herd 
to  the  summit  upon  which  the  poet  has  fixed  his 
gaze.  It  may  be  that  it  is  for  this  reason  that 
literature  has  been  almost  wholly  disregarded  as 
an  agency  for  social  service.  Because  it  has  not 
constructed  a  complete  social  philosophy,  offered 
immediate  solutions  for  all  the  vexed  problems  of 
society,  and  constructed  programs  warranted  to 
usher  in  a  millennium  on  schedule  time;  because 
it  has  not  done  these  things,  it  has  been  ignored, 
almost  as  if  it  had  done  nothing  of  social  im- 
portance. While  programs  are  the  order  of  the 
day,  it  is  certainly  true  that  literature  has  no 
special  claim   for  conspicuous  notice.     But,    on 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      39 

the  other  hand,  it  is  as  certainly  true  that  litera- 
ture has  rendered  a  much  more  efficient  and  valu- 
able service,  as  we  have  tried  to  show.  To  be 
sure,  some  makers  of  literature  have  tried  their 
hands  at  making  programs,  but  never  with  emi- 
nent success,  and  usually  with  conspicuous  failure. 
Their  failures  have  been  no  worse,  perhaps,  than 
those  of  many  others  who  have  made  similar  at- 
tempts; but  this  is  cold  comfort.  The  simple 
fact  is  that  poets  and  novelists  do  not  know  how 
to  construct  a  practical  social  program,  and  the 
wisest  of  them  have  understood  this,  and,  fol- 
lowing the  advice  of  Carlyle,  have  minded  their 
own  business.  Those  who  have  been  less  wise 
have  made  the  attempt,  and  have  demonstrated 
by  their  failures  their  inability  to  do  successfully 
what  they  have  so  boldly  attempted. 

But  if  Arnold  was  right  when  he  wrote  that 
our  urgent  need  now  is  "  to  lay  in  a  stock  of  light 
for  our  difficulties ;  "  6  if  Miss  Scudder  is  right  in 
saying  that  "  the  race  will  never  abandon  an  ideal 
once  realized,  but  will  raise  all  to  its  level,"  7  then 
literature  must  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  im- 
portant factors  contributing  to  social  progress; 
for  it  does  add  to  our  "  stock  of  light,"  and  it 
does  aid  in  establishing  and  realizing  individual 
and  social  ideals  which  the  race  will  never  aban- 

s  Culture  and  Anarchy,  chap.  2. 
T  Social  Ideals,  p.  273. 


40      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

don  until  all  rise  to  their  level.  Miss  Scudder 
continues  :  "  First  to  establish  a  lofty  standard ; 
then,  through  the  action  of  the  state,  to  realize 
conditions  in  which  the  free  upward-striving  in- 
stinct of  men  may  make  that  standard  universal 
—  such  is  the  order  of  social  evolution."8  It 
is  perhaps  largely  because  literature  has  to  do 
with  the  earlier  stages  of  the  process  of  social 
evolution  rather  than  the  later  that  its  greatest 
contributions  to  individual  and  race-progress 
have  been  all  but  universally  ignored.  The  pub- 
lication of  books  like  Miss  Scudder's  Social  Ideals 
in  English  Letters  and  of  Kuno  Francke's  Social 
Forces  in  German  Literature  indicates  that  we 
are  about  to  give  a  tardy  recognition  to  literature 
as  a  factor  in  social  evolution.  Yet  these  books 
are  more  significant  for  what  they  prophesy  than 
for  what  they  accomplish. 

Ill 

As  to  the  methods  employed  by  literature  in 
accomplishing  the  results  enumerated  but  little 
need  be  said.  As  a  general  characterization  of 
literature  we  may  quote  the  words  of  the  Stand- 
ard Dictionary,  omitting  the  explantory  paren- 
theses : 

Literature,  in  its  narrowest  and  strictest  sense,  be- 
longs to  the  sphere  of  high  art,  and  embodies  thought 

8  Loc.  cit. 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      41 

that  is  power-giving,  or  inspiring  and  elevating,  rather 
than  merely  knowledge-giving;  catholic,  or  of  interest 
to  man  as  man ;  aesthetic  in  its  tone  and  style ;  and 
shaped  by  the  creative  imagination,  or  power  of  artistic 
construction. 

Having  this  general  explanation  in  mind,  we 
may  say  that  the  methods  employed  by  literature 
in  rendering  this  unconscious  social  service  may 
be  classified  under  two  general  heads : 

1.  Simple  statements  of  facts,  physical  or 
psychical,  are  rarely  ranked  as  literary  products, 
though  simplicity  is  one  of  the  essentials  of  great 
art.  Some  essays,  however,  which  are  generally 
classed  as  literature  consist  almost  wholly  of 
such  declarations.  Simple  statements  of  facts 
may  be  "  power-giving  "  or  inspiring,  if  the  facts 
are  rightly  chosen  and  skilfully  arranged. 

2.  The  imaginative  presentation  of  condi- 
tions, needs,  and  ideals  is  an  effective  method  of 
calling  attention  to  abuses  which  ought  to  be 
abolished.  Here  physical,  psychical,  and  social 
facts  become  tools  for  the  use  of  the  imagination 
in  creative  art.  The  most  important  means  used 
to  make  this  imaginative  presentation  effective 
are  these:  (a)  By  the  use  of  rhythm,  literature 
gains  an  added  power  over  certain  minds.  The 
degree  of  susceptibility  to  impression  by  rhyth- 
mical forms  varies  greatly  in  different  persons; 
sometimes  also  in  the  same  person  at  different 


42      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

periods  of  life,  (b)  By  the  use  of  love  in  its 
romantic  forms,  literature  creates  and  maintains 
interest  in  characters,  classes,  and  periods.  The 
relation  of  this  to  the  development  of  the  family 
has  peculiar  importance  to  the  student  of  society. 
(c)  Satire  has  been  used  effectively  by  poets  and 
novelists  as  a  sting  for  those  guilty  of  allowing 
the  continuance  of  social  evils,  and  as  a  spur  to 
social  remedial  action,  (d)  By  his  appeals  to 
compassion  and  sympathy,  the  writer  of  literature 
arouses  the  emotions,  and  thus  gives  needful 
stimulus  for  the  correction  of  errors  and  the  im- 
provement of  conditions. 

If  we  say,  in  conclusion,  that  literature,  viewed 
from  the  standpoint  of  sociology,  can  never  be 
allowed  the  watchword  "  art  for  art's  sake " 
without  vigorous  protest,  we  are  saying  no  more 
than  many  of  the  best  students  of  literature  are 
saying.  In  fact,  that  much-vaunted  formula,  to 
the  layman,  seems  to  be  either  meaningless  or 
absolutely  false.  In  a  world  of  human  beings 
there  is  and  can  be  no  art  that  is  unrelated  to 
man.  Man  is  the  artist,  and  man  is  the  judge  of 
that  which  is  created.  To  be  sure,  art  must  be 
sincere  and  true;  but  this  only  means  that  its 
appeal  must  be  to  the  higher  and  not  to  the  lower 
man.  Thus,  instead  of  "  art  for  art's  sake,"  we 
have  the  truer  and  more  meaningful  formula 
"  art  for  man's  sake."     If  we  understand  by  the 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      43 

term  "  man  "  the  highest  and  divinest  man,  the 
watchword  is  as  good  for  literature  as  it  is  for 
sociology;  for  we  have  shown  that  the  service 
of  literature  to  sociology  is  dependent  upon  the 
maintenance  of  the  highest  artistic  standards. 
Sociology  asks  of  literature,  not  a  disquisition 
upon  the  nature  and  function  of  the  social  or- 
ganism, but  a  faithful,  sympathetic,  artistic,  vital 
portrayal  of  the  physical,  intellectual,  emotional, 
and  moral  life  of  persons,  classes,  and  periods. 

Most  of  the  best  work  that  literature  has  done 
for  society  cannot  be  put  into  figures,  or  given 
a  definite  and  accurate  statement,  because  this 
work  is  fundamental  and  spiritual.  It  is  only 
the  coarser,  cruder,  less  vital,  and  less  important 
facts  and  forces  of  life  that  lend  themselves  to 
the  uses  of  the  ganger  and  the  statistician.  The 
scales  have  not  yet  been  invented  by  which  we 
can  measure  the  social  service  rendered  to  the 
world  by  Dante,  in  becoming  the  interpreter  of 
the  Middle  Ages;  in  transforming  the  conception 
of  love  from  a  sensual  appetite  into  a  spiritual 
and  ideal  passion ;  in  becoming  the  herald  of  a 
new  era  of  liberty,  purity,  and  service  in  the 
church.  The  value  to  the  race  of  the  valiant 
championship  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  by 
John  Milton  in  prose  and  verse  is  utterly  beyond 
computation.  Mrs.  Browning's  "  Cry  of  the 
Children  "  was  based  upon  Home's  report  of  the 


44      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

condition  of  mines  and  factories,  and  hastened 
an  act  of  Parliament  restricting  the  employment 
of  children  of  tender  years.  Of  so  much  we  are 
morally  certain;  but  how  great  was  the  influence 
of  this  poem  in  securing  this  act  of  Parliament 
no  one  can  tell,  for  other  forces  were  also  work- 
ing toward  the  same  end.  When  President  Lin- 
coln was  introduced  to  Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe  in 
Washington  in  1863,  he  said:  "Is  this  the 
little  woman  who  caused  the  war?  "  The  words 
must  not  be  taken  too  literally,  of  course;  but 
there  is  in  them  a  statesman's  recognition  of  the 
influence  exerted  by  one  maker  of  literature,  in 
bringing  about  social  changes  of  the  greatest  sig- 
nificance. 

If  we  ask  for  the  difference  between  the 
social  service  rendered  by  poetry  and  that  ren- 
dered by  fiction,  we  find  no  complete  and  satis- 
factory answer.  No  statement  could  be  made  to 
which  there  would  not  be  so  many  exceptions  as 
to  make  the  result  seem  almost  valueless.  It  has 
been  said  that  the  novel  is  the  most  effective 
weapon  of  satire,  and  that  poetry  is  the  best  me- 
dium for  the  presentation  of  ideals.  As  a  gen- 
eral characterization,  this  may  be  allowed  to 
stand,  though  everyone  thinks  at  once  of  prose 
that  is  more  poetic  than  poetry,  and  of  poetry 
more  prosaic  than  prose.  Remembering  that 
there  are  idealistic  novels  and  satirical  poems,  we 


LITERATURE  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE      45 

may  take  the  general  statement  for  what  it  is 
worth.  Our  concern  being  especially  with 
poetry,  it  is  natural  and  desirable  that  particular 
attention  be  given  to  those  phases  of  social  serv- 
ice for  which  poetry  is  conspicuous.  If  "  a  noble 
standard  of  life  is  the  first  need  of  social  evolu- 
tion," 9  poetry  has  had  a  great  opportunity  of 
meeting  a  primary  social  need  by  revealing  the 
highest  possibilities  of  man  as  man,  and  thus 
helping  to  establish  that  "  noble  standard."  This 
opportunity  has  not  passed  unimproved. 

"  Poetry  holds  at  all  times  the  truth  of  the 
future,"  10  and  thus  heralds  the  dawn  of  the  ever- 
new  day  and  leads  the  way.  So  long  a  time 
frequently  elapses  between  the  enunciation  of  a 
truth  and  its  universal  acceptance ;  so  many  voices 
have  to  take  up  the  cry  of  the  herald  before  it 
reaches  the  utmost  bounds  of  the  land;  so  many 
auxiliary  influences  are  frequently  called  into 
play  to  aid  in  the  establishment  of  a  truth  that 
has  already  been  fearlessly  proclaimed,  that  often 
the  poet,  the  first  discoverer,  is  shouted  down  by 
the  noisy  cries  of  those  who  have  taken  the  mes- 
sage from  his  lips.     Often  the  poet. 

The  first  discoverer  starves  —  his  followers,  all 
Flower  into  fortune.11 

'Social  Ideals,  p.  273. 

10  Ibid.,  p.  232. 

11  Tennyson,  "  Columbus,''  p.  527. 


46      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

"  The  true  Sovereign  of  the  world,"  says  Car- 
lyle,  "  who  molds  the  world,  like  soft  wax,  ac- 
cording to  his  pleasure,  is  he  who  lovingly  sees 
into  the  world;  the  inspired  Thinker  whom  in 
these  days  we  name  Poet."  12 

"Miscellaneous  Essays,  Vol.  I,  p.  152. 


CHAPTER  II 

SOCIAL  CONDITIONS   IN    ENGLAND   IN   THE 
TIME  OF  TENNYSON 

We  are  now  to  study  somewhat  in  detail  the 
application  of  the  principles  enunciated  in  the 
preceding  chapter  to  the  work  of  Alfred  Ten- 
nyson. The  poems  of  Tennyson  would  certainly 
not  be  selected  first,  if  we  were  to  choose  vol- 
umes of  nineteenth-century  poetry  in  the  order 
of  their  social  significance;  and  some  have  gone 
so  far  as  to  say  that  the  poems  of  the  great 
laureate  have  no  social  importance  at  all.  That 
this  latter  view  is  completely  mistaken  it  will  not, 
I  think,  be  difficult  to  show. 

Because  Tennyson  was  supremely  the  artist  of 
his  century,  and  one  of  the  greatest  artists  of 
any  century,  the  social  value  of  his  work  as  the 
mirror  of  his  age  has  been  ignored  or  positively 
denied ;  but  we  have  seen  that  the  social  value 
of  a  literary  product  is  not  opposed  to,  but,  in  a 
sense,  is  dependent  upon,  its  artistic  quality. 
Artistic  perfection  does  not  of  itself  give  assur- 
ance that  any  work  will  be  of  social  service;  but 
if  a  novel  or  poem  which  might  otherwise  possess 

47 


48      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

a  social  value  lacks  the  artistic  quality,  its  use- 
fulness is  thereby  destroyed  or  rendered  transient. 
With  this  view  of  the  artist's  place  in  society, 
Tennyson  becomes  exceedingly  interesting  to  the 
student  of  sociology.  He  did  not  formulate  a 
schedule  of  social  movements ;  but  we  are  learn- 
ing that  the  quest  for  novel  social  theories  and 
startling  programs  is  more  than  a  weariness  to 
the  flesh ;  for,  even  when  successful,  the  theories 
and  programs  discovered  are  found  to  be  of  lit- 
tle practical  value. 

Before  entering  upon  a  study  of  the  poems 
themselves,  however,  we  need  to  understand  as 
clearly  as  possible  the  social  world  in  which  Ten- 
nyson began  his  work.  We  may  fix  upon  1830 
as  the  date  of  the  beginning  of  his  life-labors, 
the  year  in  which  he  published  Poems,  Chieiiy 
Lyrical.  His  only  publications  which  preceded 
this  volume  were  Poems  by  Tivo  Brothers,  by 
Charles  and  Alfred  Tennyson  in  1827,  and  Tim- 
buctoo,  a  poem  which  obtained  the  chancellor's 
medal  at  the  Cambridge  commencement  in  1829. 
Alfred  Tennyson  was  between  fifteen  and  seven- 
teen years  of  age  when  his  contributions  to  the 
volume  Poems  by  Tzvo  Brothers  were  written, 
and  nineteen  or  twenty  when  the  prize  poem  was 
prepared  for  his  Cambridge  audience.  These 
verses  have  little  significance  for  our  purpose. 
Indeed,  he  wrote  of  himself  in  1890:     "I  sup- 


ENGLAND  IN  THE  TIME  OF  TENNYSON      49 

pose  I  was  nearer  thirty  than  twenty  before  I 
was  anything  of  an  artist." x  It  is  with  the 
poetry  of  Tennyson  after  he  became  a  master- 
workman  that  we  are  especially  concerned,  and 
the  volumes  of  1830  and  1832  are  not  without 
genuine  artistic  quality. 

What  were  the  social  conditions  existing  in 
England  in  the  nineteenth  century,  or  during  that 
part  of  it  in  which  Tennyson  lived?  Someone 
has  said  that  the  nineteenth  century  began 
in  1789,  and  if  we  accept  the  statement,  we  shall 
have  over  a  hundred  years  to  summarize  in  one 
brief  chapter.  It  is  evident  that  we  can  only 
glance  at  the  prominent  features  of  a  period 
which  contains  much  that  is  worthy  of  being 
studied  in  detail.  Professor  Charles  Zueblin 
gives  five  social  characteristics  of  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries :  ( 1 )  political  reform, 
(2)  extension  of  commerce,  (3)  industrial  revo- 
lution, (4)  liberty  of  the  press,  and  (5)  Wes- 
leyan  revival.  The  industrial  revolution  is  the 
central  fact  in  the  eighteenth  century.  It  is  one 
of  those  large  movements  that  cannot  be  said 
to  have  begun  in  a  specified  year,  but  which  may 
be  placed  roughly  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Important  inventions  had  been  made, 
the  full  significance  of  which  no  one  at  the  time 
could    have    appreciated.     The    spinning-frame, 

1  Memoir,  Vol.   I,   p.    12. 


50      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

the  spinning-mule,  the  power-loom,  and  the  cot- 
ton-gin, called  into  being  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century  were  destined  to  work  mar- 
velous changes  in  the  life  of  the  people.  The 
motive  power  of  steam  had  been  discovered,  and 
early  prophesied  some  of  the  transformations 
which  have  since  proved  of  immense  economic 
value. 

With  the  altered  conditions  brought  about  by 
these  wonderful  inventions  we  are  familiar,  be- 
cause they  have  continued  down  to  the  present 
time.  Every  decade  brings  changes,  but  the 
later  years  have  only  extended  and  developed  the 
methods  and  the  machinery  which  first  made  ap- 
plicable the  term  "  industrial  revolution."  It  is 
necessary  for  us  to  remember  that  up  to  the  mid- 
dle of  the  eighteenth  century  practically  all  manu- 
factures were  carried  on  by  hand.  Factories 
were  almost  unknown.  Few,  if  any,  large 
towns  were  devoted  to  any  one  trade.  The 
manufacturer  was  often  the  farmer,  who  em- 
ployed part  of  his  time  in  the  pursuit  of  agri- 
culture and  part  in  weaving  cloth  in  his  own 
house.  The  cottage  of  the  laborer  was  almost 
the  only  factory.  The  old-fashioned  spinning- 
wheel  and  the  hand-loom  were  the  ordinary  in- 
struments of  production.  Steam  power  was  un- 
known, and  so  little  coal  was  mined  as  to  be  of 


ENGLAND  IN  THE  TIME  OF  TENNYSON      51 

trifling  importance  in  the  solution  of  the  problem 
of  fuel. 

When  Tennyson  began  his  work  in  1830,  these 
conditions  were  greatly  changed.  Steam  was 
then  being  applied  to  almost  every  industry,  new 
machines  had  been  invented,  coal  was  being 
mined  in  large  quantities,  the  means  of  trans- 
portation had  been  vastly  improved.  The  steam- 
ship had  been  created,  and  heralded  the  advent 
of  the  railroad  train.  Population  had  increased, 
and  began  to  be  concentrated  in  large  towns 
given  over  to  manufactures  of  various  sorts. 

The  agitation  for  political  changes  became 
pronounced  in  this  period,  though  much  of  the 
desired  legislation  was  not  secured  until  later. 
The  Reform  Bill  was  passed  in  1832.  Not  until 
that  year  did  the  new  factory  workers  receive 
their  rightful  share  in  the  government,  and  the 
agricultural  population  obtain  a  more  adequate 
representation.  With  the  passing  of  that  bill 
the  power  of  the  land-owning  class  was  severely 
curtailed,  and  democracy  gained  a  new  and  im- 
portant victory.2  The  Corn  Laws  were  not  re- 
pealed until  1846. 

In  1 81 5  Napoleon  received  his  crushing  de- 
feat at  Waterloo  at  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington.     The  years  of  war  preceding  that 

*  See  Gibbins,  The  English  People  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  p.  26. 


52      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

battle  had  cost  the  nation  millions  of  pounds. 
^  The  wealth  acquired  by  the  development  of  in- 
dustry and  commerce  was  in  one  sense  quite  as 
•essential  to  the  victory  of  England  as  the  prowess 
of  her  soldiers.  When  at  last  peace  was  de- 
clared and  the  nation  had  time  to  consider  the 
condition  of  its  own  people,  the  working  classes 
were  suffering  from  high  prices  of  food,  low 
wages,  and  high  taxes.  In  fact,  the  whole  coun- 
try was  groaning  under  the  overwhelming  load 
of  taxation,  while  money  was  so  scarce  that  for 
twenty  years  preceding  1819  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land had  not  gold  enough  to  cash  its  own  notes.3 

Those  who  suffered  most  keenly  as  a  result 
of  these  conditions  were  naturally  the  poor. 
They  had  no  reserve  fund  upon  which  to  draw. 
They  were  almost  entirely  dependent  for  their 
livelihood  upon  the  product  of  their  daily  toil. 
The  men  who  had  worked  only  by  hand  found 
themselves  without  employment,  because  the  new 
machines  tended  by  women  or  children  were  do- 
ing the  work  the  men  had  been  accustomed  to  do, 
and  were  doing  it  faster  and  better  than  they 
could  do  it.  Workmen  became  dependent  upon 
capitalist  employers,  and  a  competition  before 
unknown  became  a  powerful  factor  in  industry 
and  commerce. 

The  moral  and  physical  conditions  of  the  fac- 

3  Gibbins,  op.  cit.,  p.  2. 


ENGLAND  IN  THE  TIME  OF  TENNYSON      53 

tory  workers  were  often  wretched.  Persons  of 
all  ages  and  both  sexes  were  crowded  into  large 
factories,  with  no  arrangements  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  health,  morality,  comfort,  or  decency. 
Poverty  seemed  to  compel  as  sad  conditions  in 
the  home  as  in  the  factory.  In  Manchester  one- 
tenth  of  the  total  population  lived  in  cellars, 
which  were  often  flooded  with  stagnating  filth. 
In  these  miserable  holes  entire  families  lived 
crowded  together,  sleeping  on  the  damp  and 
filthy  floors,  through  which  moisture  was  con- 
tinually oozing  up  sending  out  disgusting  odors. 
The  children  from  such  homes  as  these  and  from 
the  poorhouses  were  employed  in  the  factories  as 
veritable  slaves.  To  read  the  record  of  the  cruel, 
inhuman,  devilish  treatment  of  these  children,  of 
their  abuse  and  overwork,  makes  the  blood  run 
hot.  It  was  mentioned  in  Parliament  in  181 5 
that  children  were  actually  bought  and  sold  by 
employers  as  if  they  were  slaves ;  but  who 
cared  ?  4 

We  cannot  wonder  that  during  the  years  in 
which  the  changes  were  taking  place  pauperism 
greatly  increased.  The  industrial  revolution, 
war,  agricultural  and  manufacturing  failures  and 
losses,  forced  many  of  the  poorest  people  out  of 
the  self-supporting  class  and  into  the  ranks  of 
the  dependent.     Under  the  provision  of  the  Corn 

*  Ibid.,  p.  3. 


54     SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Laws,  passed  in  1815  and  re-enacted  at  later 
dates,  foreign  corn  could  not  be  imported  till 
English  wheat  was  almost  at  famine  price.  P. 
A.  Graham  5  quotes  the  testimony  of  a  man  who 
was  obliged  to  live  on  raw  turnips  or  boiled  net- 
tles, because  unable  to  pay  the  high  price  de- 
manded for  bread.  Even  Queen  Victoria  wrote 
as  late  as  1847  :  "  The  price  of  bread  is  so  high 
that  we  have  been  obliged  to  reduce  every  one 
to  a  pound  a  day,  and  only  secondary  flour  to  be 
used  in  the  royal  kitchen."  If  royalty  was  thus 
stinted,  the  condition  of  the  poor  may  perhaps  be 
imagined.6 

Relief  of  some  sort  was  imperatively  de- 
manded. Since  1796  outdoor  relief  had  been 
given  to  laborers,  whether  able-bodied  or  notr 
The  pernicious  policy  of  supplementing  wages 
by  poor-rates  was  commonly  followed.  To  this 
folly  was  added  that  of  giving  relief  according  to 
the  number  of  children  in  a  family,  thus  encour- 
aging profligacy  and  improvident  marriages. 

By  these  means  pauperism,  so  far  from  being 
checked,  was  actually  encouraged.  In  181 8  the 
poor-rate  had  increased  to  13^.  3  d.  per  head. 
While  the  condition  of  the  poor  was  thus  going 
from  bad  to  worse,  England's  ambition  for  com- 
mercial supremacy  was  steadily  growing.    France 

5  The  Victorian  Era,  p.  26. 

6  Gibbins,  op.  cit.,  p.  36. 


ENGLAND  IN  THE  TIME  OF  TENNYSON      55 

was  in  this  field  a  formidable  rival,  and  this  fact 
did  not  tend  to  increase  the  friendship  of  the 
two  nations.  Napoleon  showed  that  he  was  de- 
termined to  make  France  the  leading  country  in 
commerce,  not  only  of  Europe,  but  of  the  world. 
This  purpose  in  the  great  Corsican  was  a  trum- 
pet-call to  Britain  to  gird  herself  for  battle  in 
the  markets  of  the  world  as  well  as  upon  the  field 
of  war. 

The  day  of  cottage  factories  was  past.  Manu- 
facturing industries  developed,  merchants  became 
more  enterprising  and  daring,  and  consequently 
foreign  trade  increased  in  variety  and  in  value. 
The  colonies  which  we  now  know  as  the  United 
States  had  been  lost,  but  many  others  remained, 
including  such  important  sources  of  trade  as 
Canada  and  India.  Yet  as  late  as  1820  the  value 
of  England's  foreign  and  colonial  imports  was 
only  about  thirty-two  million  pounds  sterling, 
and  the  imports  and  exports  combined  were  only 
seventy-nine  millions;  while  in  the  three  years 
preceding  1840  the  average  of  imports  rose  to 
fifty-six  millions,  and  the  total  imports  and  ex- 
ports to  one  hundred  and  fifteen  millions.  In  the 
twenty  years  following  1840  the  increase  in  for- 
eign and  colonial  trade  was  still  more  remark- 
able. 

It  was  not  until  1836  that  the  heavy  tax  of 
four  pence  on  each  newspaper  was  so  reduced  as 


56      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

to  cease  to  be  prohibitive  for  a  large  portion  of 
the  population.  About  the  same  time  the  duty 
on  paper  was  diminished.  This  meant  much  to 
the  poor  people  of  England  and  to  all  lovers  of 
cheap  literature.  In  1837  Mr.  Rowland  Hill 
proposed  to  abolish  all  existing  rates  of  postage, 
and  to  substitute  therefor  a  uniform  rate  of  one 
penny,  irrespective  of  distance,  with  prepayment 
by  means  of  stamps.  This  suggestion,  which  at 
first  aroused  a  storm  of  opposition,  was  adopted 
by  Parliament  in  1839. 

The  agitation  for  the  removal  of  the  religious 
disabilities  grew  warm  in  the  early  years  of  the 
century.  Catholics  were  not  allowed  to  sit  in 
Parliament  or  hold  any  public  office.  William 
Pitt  attempted  to  change  these  unfair  conditions 
in  1 80 1,  but  without  success.  In  1810  Grattan 
repeated  the  effort  of  Pitt,  and  with  the  same 
result.  Partial  success  came  in  181 7,  when,  by 
the  passage  of  the  Military  and  Naval  Officers' 
Oath  Bill,  all  ranks  of  the  army  and  navy  were 
opened  to  Catholics  and  Dissenters.  In  1823 
the  Catholic  Association,  a  large  and  influential 
society,  was  called  into  being  to  aid  in  the  work 
of  Catholic  emancipation.  Two  years  later  Par- 
liament passed  an  act  to  dissolve  the  association 
as  a  dangerous  body.  In  1828  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell,  the  eloquent  advocate  of  freedom  and  tolera- 
tion, was  elected  to  Parliament  for  County  Clare, 


ENGLAND  IN  THE  TIME  OF  TENNYSON      57 

but,  being  a  Roman  Catholic,  he  could  not  take 
his  seat.  This  precipitated  a  crisis,  and  in  1829, 
in  spite  of  fierce  opposition,  a  bill  was  passed  by 
both  houses  which  opened  Parliament  to  Roman 
Catholics.  The  restrictions  upon  Protestant  Dis- 
senters had  been  removed  the  year  before,  so  that 
when  Tennyson  published  his  Poems,  Chiefly 
Lyrical  very  few  persons  in  England  were  at  po- 
litical disadvantage  because  of  their  religious 
views. 

Besides  the  changes  already  enumerated,  there 
were  other  important  events  and  transformations 
that  took  place  during  the  life  of  the  poet.  Some 
of  these  are  definitely  referred  to  in  the  poems, 
some  are  reflected  in  his  verses  only  in  spirit  and 
not  mentioned  by  name,  while  concerning  others 
he  is  absolutely  silent.  Each  method  of  treating 
great  facts  and  movements  has  its  own  signifi- 
cance.    "  Silence  is  vocal,  if  we  listen  well." 

In  the  industrial  world  the  changes  were  per- 
haps most  marked  and  most  prophetic  of  the 
"  age  that  is  to  be."  In  1830  the  first  co-opera- 
tive farm  was  founded,  followed  fourteen  years 
later  by  the  organization  of  the  Rochdale  Equi- 
table Pioneers.  In  1832  genuine  trades  unions 
were  formed.  A  year  afterward  factory  inspec- 
tors were  appointed.  In  1842  women  and  chil- 
dren were  prohibited  from  working  in  under- 
ground   galleries.     Five    and    eight    years    later 


58      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Sadler,  Oastler,  and  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  legislation  for  the  further  pro- 
tection of  women  and  children  employed  in  mines 
and  factories.  In  1862  devices  for  the  safety 
and  ventilation  of  mines  were  introduced.  In 
1870  payment  in  "  truck "  was  abolished.  In 
1889  the  dockers'  strike  showed  to  the  world  the 
great  power  of  united  labor.  The  Chartist  in- 
surrection took  place  as  far  back  as  1839,  and 
opened  the  eyes  of  many  to  the  possible  peril 
arising  from  the  wrath  of  the  oppressed  when 
once  aroused.  The  formation  of  the  Electric 
Telegraph  Company  in  1846,  and  the  rapid  ex- 
tension of  railways  in  the  fifteen  years  succeed- 
ing, together  with  the  ever-increasing  activity  of 
the  press,  served  to  unify  the  people  of  the  realm 
in  a  remarkable  degree. 

In  politics  also  there  were  social  signs  of  the 
times.  The  great  event  of  the  early  part  of  the 
period  of  which  we  are  thinking  was,  of  course, 
the  passage  of  the  Reform  Bill  in  1832.  In  1833 
the  negroes  were  emancipated,  and  the  Quakers 
were  admitted  to  Parliament.  In  1848  the  first 
public-health  act  was  passed.  In  1850  the  funds 
of  the  Friendly  Societies  were  legally  protected. 
Three  years  later  the  United  Kingdom  alliance 
was  formed  to  suppress  the  liquor  traffic.  In 
1857  representative  government  was  given  some 
of  the  Australian  colonies,   and  Jews  were  ad- 


ENGLAND  IN  THE  TIME  OF  TENNYSON      59 

mitted  to  Parliament.  In  i860  protective  duties 
were  completely  abolished,  and  the  Radicals 
secured  the  freedom  of  the  press.  In  1868  the 
Dominion  of  Canada  was  formed.  A  short  time 
afterward  women  were  given  votes  in  municipal 
elections  and  allowed  to  vote  for  school  boards. 
In  1873  the  "  settlement  idea  "  had  its  inception. 
Two  years  later  the  sanitary  code  was  consoli- 
dated. In  1883  the  Fabian  Society  was  formed. 
In  1884  Englishmen  could  make  the  proud  boast 
that  no  civil  disabilities  were  attached  to  any  class 
of  British  subjects.  In  1891  the  London  County 
Council  was  formed,  and  lords  and  laborers  sat  in 
one  body.  So  rapid  was  the  growth  of  the 
democratic  idea  in  Albion's  realm. 

There  is  also  some  special  legislation  that  is 
worthy  of  note,  aside  from  the  factory  acts  al- 
ready mentioned.  In  1843  imprisonment  for 
debt  was  abolished  in  all  cases  except  for  fraud. 
The  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  in  1846  has  al- 
ready been  cited.  Various  other  acts,  such  as 
the  "  Baths  and  Wash  Houses  Act,"  "  Free  Li- 
braries Act,"  "  Municipal  Reform  Act,"  "  Edu- 
cation Act,"  and  the  "  Housing  of  the  Working 
Classes  Act,"  all  showed  that  the  needs  of  the 
people  were  being  recognized  and  met  by  the  law 
of  the  land. 

The  cause  of  education  in  the  realm  also 
showed  a  decided,  if  not  a  thoroughly  satisfac- 


60      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

tory,  advance.  In  1833  the  government  took 
charge  of  the  education  of  the  poor.  In  1839  the 
first  inspectors  of  schools  were  appointed,  and  a 
special  department  was  created  to  supervise  the 
work.  About  1850  the  newspapers  were  multi- 
plying and  coming  to  positions  of  great  power. 
In  1 85 1  there  were  159  newspapers  in  London 
alone.  In  1853  there  were  grants  made  for 
building  schools  in  poor  places.  In  i860  Rev. 
F.  D.  Maurice  established  his  "  Workingmeir  s 
College  "  in  London.  Seven  years  later  the  uni- 
versity-extension movement  was  started  in  Cam- 
bridge. In  1870  the  voluntary  schools  were  sup- 
plemented by  board  schools,  and  the  religious 
conditions  for  school  attendance  were  abolished. 
The  right  of  women  to  higher  and  professional 
education  was  so  far  accorded  that  in  1876  every 
recognized  medical  body  was  authorized  to  open 
its  doors  to  women.  Two  years  later  the  sup- 
plementary charter  granted  to  the  University  of 
London  enabled  it  to  open  all  its  degrees  to 
women.     In  1880  there  began  an  era  of  marked 

,  improvement  in  schools,  which  continued  up  to 
and  after  the  death  of  Tennyson.  This  was  a 
source  of  great  comfort  and  hope  to  the  poet, 

,    who  considered  education  one  of  the  most  ef- 
ficient means  of  remedying  social  disorders. 
During  this  period  there  were  indications  of 

'    new  interest  in  the  aesthetic  side  of  life.     As  earlv 


ENGLAND  IN  THE  TIME  OF  TENNYSON      61 

as  1843  a  number  of  schools  of  design  had  en- 
tered upon  successful  careers.  In  six  or  seven 
years  the  prg-Raphaelite  movement  had  begun. 
In  1 85 1  the  first  great  exhibition  was  held.  In 
a  few  years  various  Ruskin  societies  were  formed. 
In  1868  William  Morris  started  the  "  Kelmscott 
Press,"  and  about  ten  years  later  began  his  lec- 
tures on  art. 

In  the  ecclesiastical  world  there  was  also  move- 
ment and  change.  In  1834  there  was  the  Wes- 
leyan  secession,  which  resulted  in  giving  much 
more  influence  to  the  laity.  Partly  because  of 
this,  perhaps,  there  was,  two  years  later,  a  move- 
ment toward  church  reform.  In  1865  the  Salva- 
tion Army  was  founded.  It  was  not  until  the 
year  before  Tennyson's  death  that  the  first  "  labor 
church  "  was  opened  by  Trevor  in  Manchester. 

Such  movements  and  events  as  have  been  cata- 
logued reveal  the  spirit  of  the  time  in  which  Ten- 
nyson lived.  It  will  be  interesting  to  notice  how 
he  was  affected  by  this  spirit,  wherein  he  re- 
flected it,  in  what  way  he  opposed  it,  wherein  he 
led  and  inspired  it  by  giving  to  it  its  highest 
ideal,  and  in  what  respect  he  seemed  untouched 
by  it. 

Note. —  This  study  is  based  upon  the  poems  as  found 
in  the  Macmillan  &  Co.'s  one-volume  edition  published 
in  1894.  All  references  to  poems  are  to  the  pages  of 
this  volume. 


CHAPTER  III 

TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  MAN 

In  every  theory  of  society,  in  every  system  of 
social  ideals,  the  fundamental  conception  is  the 
idea  of  man.  Man  puts  himself  into  the  family 
he  creates,  the  government  he  forms,  the  industry 
he  conducts.  The  man  of  whom  the  poet  con- 
ceives an  ideal  is  the  being  who  enters  into  re- 
lations with  others  of  his  race  in  the  home,  the 
community,  the  nation.  As  he  is  in  himself,  so 
he  will  be  in  his  relations.  As  he  is  in  his  rela- 
tions, so  will  be  the  society  which  he  forms. 
Man's  duties,  responsibilities,  destinies,  are  de- 
termined by  his  nature  and  possibilities. 

Tennyson's  words  upon  this  great  theme  show 
us  how  exalted  was  his  ideal  of  this  "  creature 
with  the  upward  gaze."  In  the  opening  stanzas 
of  "  In  Memoriam  "  he  invokes  the  "  strong  Son 
of  God,  Immortal  Love,"  and  declares,  "  Thou 
madest  man."  Mr.  Allingham,1  reporting  a  con- 
versation of  the  poet  with  himself  and  a  friend, 
quotes  these  words  from  Tennyson :  "  Time  is 
nothing ;  are  we  not  all  a  part  of  Deity  ?  "     Yet 

1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  514. 


TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  MAN  63 

he  recognizes  man  as  a  distinct  personality,  who 
attains  his  highest  nature  when  most  thoroughly 
himself. 

For  a  man  is  not  as  God, 
But  then  most  Godlike  being  most  a  man.2 

Even  the  reckless  pleasure-hunter  of  "  The  Vi- 
sion of  Sin "  does  not  altogether  forget  that 
"  God's  likeness  "  is  "  the  ground  plan  "  of  the 
man  who  owns  that  "  Death  is  King."  3  Because 
of  this  godlike  nature  he  possesses,  "  man  is  man  . 
and  master  of  his  fate."  4  His  relation  to  Deity 
is  mysterious,  but  real.  That  relationship  makes 
man  great  today  because  of  what  he  is  to  be. 

We  feel  we  are  nothing  —  for  all  is  Thou  and  in  Thee ; 
We  feel  we  are  something  —  that  also  has  come  from 

Thee; 
We  know  we  are  nothing  —  but  Thou  wilt  help  us  to 

be: 

Hallowed  be  Thy  name  —  Hallelujah." 

The  measureless  capacity  of  man  is  explained  by 
the  fact  that  He  who  made  us  "  Sent  the  shadow 
of  Himself,  the  boundless,  thro'  the  human 
soul."  6 

This  does  not  mean  that  man  as  we  know  him 

* "  Love  and  Duty,"  p.  93. 

3  P.  123. 

* "  The  Marriage  of  Geraint,"  p.  46. 

8  "  De  Profundis,"  p.  533. 

9 "  Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  566. 


64      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

is  a  creature  of  angelic  mold.  He  has  angel  in- 
stincts, but  he  is  also  akin  to  the  beasts.  Man  is 
"  the  piebald  miscellany."  7  When  controlled  by 
anger,  he  is  brother  to  the  wolves.8  It  is  only 
the  king  of  fools  who  would  hope  or  expect  to 
make  men  from  beasts.9  The  harmless  people 
of  the  newly  discovered  world  took  the  white, 
voyagers  for  "  very  Gods,"  but  found  some  of 
them  "  very  fiends  from  Hell."  10  Even  the  king 
of  sacred  song  declared  that  men  are  "  insects  of 
an  hour,  that  hourly  work  their  brother  insects 
wrong."  ai  The  fact  that  we  feel  within  our- 
selves "  the  Powers  of  Good  "  and  "  the  Powers 
of  111 "  may  be  explained  by  the  presence  of 
"those  about  us  whom  we  neither  see  nor 
name."  12  Harold  was  right  in  one  sense  in  say- 
ing that  "  we  are  all  poor  earthworms  crawling 
in  this  boundless  nature,"  and  was  himself  an 
argument  in  favor  of  the  truth  of  the  statement.13 
The  many  characters  portrayed  in  the  poems 
who  bring  ruin  upon  others  through  passion, 
lust,  selfishness,  malice,  hatred,  greed,  give  evi- 

7  "  The  Princess,"  p.  198. 

8"Balin  and  Balan,"  p.  377. 

*"The  Last  Tournament,"  p.  449. 

""Columbus,"  p.   528. 

""Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  566. 

11    Ibid.,  p.  567. 

13 "  The  Voice  and  the  Peak,"  p.  240. 


TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  MAN  65 

dence  of  the  poet's  knowledge  of  the  possible 
degradation  of  a  human  being.  An  extract  from 
a  letter  to  Emily  Sellwood,  dated  1839,  cor- 
roborates this  evidence  in  the  words :  "  Indeed 
what  matters  it  how  much  man  knows  and  does 
if  he  keeps  not  a  reverential  looking  upward? 
He  is  only  the  subtlest  beast  in  the  field."  14  It 
is  through  the  body  that  man  has  his  most 
intimate  connection  with  the  lower  world. 
Henry,  in  the  drama  of  "  Becket,"  states  what 
may  be  taken  as  Tennyson's  own  conviction  in 
the  words 

this  beast-body 
That  God  has  plunged  my  soul  in." 

Recognizing  thus  frankly  the  relation  of  man 
to  the  lower  animals,  studying  with  scientific  care 
the  possible  degeneration  of  the  individual 
through  passion,  selfishness,  sin,  he  still  holds 
with  unwavering  firmness  that  "  the  highest  is 
the  measure  of  the  man."  16  The  thought  of  a 
man  is  higher  than  peak  or  star.17  Man  is  every- 
where recognized  as  nature's  last  and  greatest 
work.18  Nor  is  this  conception  of  the  noblest 
manhood    an    idle    or    impossible    dream.     He 

"  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.   169. 

10  Poems,  p.  717. 

""The  Princess,"  p.  175. 

17 "  The  Voice  and  the  Peak,"  p.  240. 

""In  Memoriam,"  Canto  LVI,  p.  261. 


66      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

pointed   to  him  whom   he   called    "  Albert,    the 
Good  "  as  one 

Who  reverenced  his  conscience  as  his  king; 
Whose  glory  was  redressing  human  wrong; 
Who  spake  no  slander,  no,  nor  listen'd  to  it; 
Who  loved  one  only  and  who  clave  to  her.19 

He  was  one  who  possessed 

that  gentleness 
Which,  when  it  weds  with  manhood,  makes  a  man.20 

The  very  fact  that  "we  needs  must  love  the 
highest  when  we  see  it."  21  is  convincing  proof 
^that  "  the  highest  human  nature  is  divine." 22 
.Guinevere's  suffering  and  sin  open  her  eyes  to 
this  great  truth,  and  at  last  she  says  of  Arthur: 
"  Thou  are  the  highest  and  most  human,  too."  23 
Tennyson  portrays  many  different  types  of  char- 
acter, but  he  never  allows  the  reader  to  forget 
^Ahat  God  made  man  in  his  own  image.  Even 
when  ruined  by  his  sins,  man  still  shows  how 
great  he  is.  Tennyson's  conception  of  his  true 
worth  is  indicated  by  the  words  of  Harold : 

The  simple,  silent,  selfless  man 

Is  worth  a  world  of  tonguesters. 2* 

10  "  Dedication  of  Idylls,"  p.  308. 

20 "  Geraint  and  Enid,"  p.  367. 

21 "  Guinevere,"  p.  466. 

22 "  Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  568. 

25  "  Guinevere,"  p.  466. 

""Harold,"  Act  V,  sc.  1,  p.  684. 


TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  MAN  67 

In  1850  he  declared  that  "  the  real  test  of  a  man 
is  not  what  he  knows,  but  what  he  is  in  himself 
and  in  his  relation  to  others."  25  Men  may  con- 
demn the  poet's  judgment  in  speaking  such  splen- 
did eulogy  of  Wellington  or  Havelock  or  Prince 
Albert  as  ideal  men,  but  no  one  can  truly  say  that 
he  ever  forgot  the  possible  divinity  of  humanity, 
or  neglected  to  call  man  to  the  realization  of  his 
great  possibilities. 

That  Tennyson  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  free- 
dom of  man's  will  is  evidenced  by  his  poems  and 
by  his  biography.  The  lines  most  frequently 
quoted  by  him  upon  this  subject  are  these : 

This  main  miracle  that  thou  art  thou 

With  power  on  thine  own  act  and  on  the  world.28 

Miss  E.  R.  Chapman  who  published  A  Compan- 
ion to  In  Memoriam  in  1888  quotes  the  poet's 
words  upon  the  first  stanza  of  the  last  section  of 
the  great  elegy  beginning,  "  O  living  will,  that 
shalt  endure."  "  I  did  not  mean,"  said  Tenny- 
son, "  the  divine  will,  as  you  say.  I  meant  will 
in  man  —  free  will.  You  know  there  is  free 
will.  It  is  limited,  of  course.  We  are  like  birds 
in  a  cage,  but  we  can  hop  from  perch  to  perch  — 
till  the  roof  is  taken  off."  2T     It  is  not  necessary 

■"Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  318. 
28  Ibid.,  p.  317. 

27  W.    T.   Stead,   "Character  Sketch  of  Tennyson,"  Re- 
view of  Reviezvs,  December,  1892,  p.  565. 


68       SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

to  quote  further  in  support  of  this  statement  of 
the  poet's  belief  in  free  will.  Attention  is  called 
to  it  here  because,  without  this  conviction,  no  one 
can  consistently  believe  in  the  responsibility  of 
the  individual  for  his  own  progress  and  for  the 
progress  of  society. 

Tennyson's  careful  study  of  science  naturally 
made  him  a  firm  adherent  of  the  doctrine  of  evo- 
lution. He  believed  every  man  to  be  "  the  heir 
of  all  ages  in  the  foremost  files  of  time."  ^ 
There  is  really 

nothing  lost  to  man; 
So  that  still  garden  of  the  souls 
In  many  a  figured  leaf  enrolls 
The  total  world  since  life  began.29 

"  Many  a  million  of  ages  have  gone  to  the  mak- 
ing of  man;"  30  and  these  ages  of  making  indi- 
cate the  value  of  the  product.  Edgar,  in  "  The 
Promise  of  May,"  31  speaks  of  "  the  man,  the 
child  of  evolution."  The  countless  years  of  the 
past  that  have  gone  toward  the  making  of  man  as 
he  is  today  have  not  completed  their  task.  Man 
still  is  being  made.  Other  countless  years  must 
come  and  go  before  it  can  be  said  that  the  work 
is  finished  and  man  is  made. 

18  "  Locksley  Hall,"  p.   102. 

58  "In   Memoriam,"  XLIII,  p.  258. 

30  "Maud,"  IV,  p.  290. 

31  Act   I,  p.   784. 


TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  MAN  69 

Science  has  in  its  vast  conceptions  tended  to 
belittle  man.  He  is  lost  in  the  vast  cosmic  world. 
The  poet  recalls  us  to  the  truth  that  the  cosmic 
forces  are  focused  upon  the  human  being.  The 
making-  of  a  man  by  evolution  is  a  slow  process, 
but  it  gives  hope.  It  works  out  the  beast,  and 
lets  the  ape  and  tiger  die.  The  great  zones  of 
sculpture  that  girded  the  hall  of  Camelot  with 
their  mystic  symbols  represent  four  stages  in  the 
progress  of  man. 

In  the  lowest  beasts  are  slaying-  men, 
And  in  the  second  men  are  slaying  beasts, 
And  on  the  third  are  warriors,  perfect  men, 
And  on  the  fourth  are  men  with  growing  wings.33 

Now  "  we  are  far  from  the  noon  of  man,  there 
is  time  for  the  race  to  grow."  33  Tennyson's 
whole  philosophy  of  the  onward  march  of  man 
from  the  lowest  level  up  to  the  very  summit  of 
his  grandest  destiny  is  summed  up  in  "  The  Mak- 
ing of  Man.34 

Where    is    one   that,    born    of   woman,    altogether   can 

escape 
From  the  lower  world  within  him,  moods  of  tiger  or  of 

ape? 
Man  as  yet  is  being  made,  and  ere  the  crowning  Age 

of  ages, 
Shall  not  aeon  after  aeon  pass  and  touch  him  into  shape? 

32 "  The  Holy  Grail,"  p.  422. 

53  "  The  Dawn,"  p.  889. 

54  P.  889. 


70      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

All  about  him  shadows  still,  but,  while  the  races  flower 

and  fade, 
Prophet-eyes  may  catch  a  glory  slowly  gaining  on  the 

shade, 
Till  the  peoples  all  are  one,  and  all  their  voices  blend 

in  choric 
Hallelujah    to   the    Maker,    "  It    is    finished.     Man    is 

made." 

This  triumphant  message  of  the  poet,  philoso- 
pher, and  idealist  prophesies  the  increasing  glory 
of  the  individual  as  well  as  that  of  the  race. 
Bishop  Westcott  wrote  that  what  impressed  him 
most  in  "  In  Memoriam  "  was  Tennyson's 
"splendid  faith  (in  the  face  of  the  frankest  ac- 
knowledgment of  every  difficulty)  in  the  grow- 
ing purpose  of  the  sum  of  life,  and  in  the  noble 
destiny  of  the  individual  man  as  he  offers  himself 
for  the  fulfilment  of  his  little  part."  35 

We  may  now  summarize  briefly  the  poet's 
teaching  concerning  man,  "  the  social  unit." 
Man  is  a  spirit  dwelling  in  a  body.  He  is  a 
product  of  evolution  and  carries  in  himself  the 
history  of  the  past ;  yet  he  is  free  and 

Strong  in  will 
To  strive,  to  seek,  to  find  and  not  to  yield.'13 

He  has  aspirations  the  highest,  hopes  the  grand- 
est, and  comes  to  self-realization  largely  through 

88  Memoir ,  Vol.  I,  p.  300. 
30  "  Ulysses,"  p.  96. 


TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  MAN  71 

action  in  service  of  his  fellow-men.  He  pos- 
sesses reason  and  is  by  nature  a  doubter;  yet  he 
is  largely  influenced  by  emotions,  conventions, 
nature,  environment.  He  is  capable  of  educa- 
tion, longs  for  knowledge,  purity,  love.  He  is 
at  once  capable  of  the  sublimest  heroism  in  the 
performance  of  duty,  and  of  most  awful  degen- 
eration through  selfishness  and  sin.  Even  failure 
nobly  used  may  become  a  stepping-stone  in  his 
progress.  Faith,  obedience,  sorrow,  suffering, 
struggle,  self-sacrifice,  each  in  its  own  way  min- 
isters to  the  advancement  and  highest  achieve- 
ment of  the  man  whose  noble  destiny  is  pro- 
claimed by  his  wondrous  possibilities.  That 
destiny  is  so  great  that  it  passes  the  bounds  of 
earth  and  finds  its  perfect  fulfilment  only  in  the 
immortal  life.  This  is  the  man  of  whom  the  poet 
thinks  and  sings,  the  man  who  puts  himself  into 
all  his  social  compacts  in  family,  government, 
church,  and  society.  This  is  the  unit  which  re- 
mains constant  in  every  computation  of  social 
values. 


CHAPTER  IV 

TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  THE  WORTH  AND  WORK 
OF  WOMAN 

Tennyson  has  written  so  much  concerning  the 
place  and  mission  of  woman,  has  pictured  so 
many  types  of  the  female  character,  that  a  vol- 
ume would  be  required  to  give  in  detail  his  study 
and  estimate  of  the  qualities  which  are  regarded 
as  peculiarly  feminine.  We  need  not  here  re- 
peat the  questions :  Are  Tennyson's  women  real 
or  unreal ;  are  they  portrayed  with  artistic  power ; 
do  they  show  as  great  poetic  insight  as  is  revealed 
in  other  features  of  his  work?  These  are  inter- 
esting and  important  questions,  but  they  are  not 
ours.  We  ask :  What  was  Tennyson's  concep- 
tion of  the  function  of  woman  in  the  social  or- 
ganism? and  seek  to  find  the  correct  answer  to 
this  inquiry. 

In  King  Arthur.  Tennyson  has  given  us  his 
ideal  man.  This  beautiful  character  has  no 
feminine  counterpart.  Arthur  was  wedded  to 
Guinevere,  who  wrought  the  ruin  of  the  round 
table.  Tennyson  has  portrayed  women  of  won- 
drous virtue,  beauty,  love ;  but  there  is  not  one  in 
72 


TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  WOMAN  73 

all  the  gallery  of  his  art  to  whom  we  can  point 
and  say :  "  This  is  the  ideal  woman."  The 
noblest  women  of  his  song  are  not  the  creations 
of  his  imagination,  but  the  product  of  his  pho- 
tographic skill.  Lilian,  Mariana,  Madeline, 
Oriana,  Margaret,  are  not  without  attractiveness ; 
but  when  he  wrote  of  Victoria,  in  whom  "  a 
thousand  claims  to  reverence  closed  .  .  . 
as  mother,  wife  and  queen,"  or  of  his  own  mother 
as  he  did  in  "  Isabel,"  *  he  wrote  with  a  power 
not  evinced  in  the  descriptive  analyses  of  the 
women  of  his  imagination.  The  women  of  his 
brain  are  pretty  girls.  The  noblest  women 
whom  he  knew  were  strong  in  character  and  life 
and  love.  In  general  it  is  true  that  the  lines 
written  in  earlier  manhood  portray  women  whose 
attractiveness  is  transient  and  external,  while  his 
maturer  genius  delighted  to  present  those  whose 
power  is  in  intellect  and  noble  qualities  of  heart, 
the  virtues  that  endure. 

He  views  woman  primarily  from  the  stand- 
point of  sex.  Thejvoman  conclueI^  wnere  sne 
conquers  at  all,  not  because  of  her  knowledge, 
not  because  of  her  keener  intuitions  or  her  de- 
veloped power  to  struggle  and  attain,  but  be- 
cause of  her  sex-relations.  Her  jealousies 
sharpen  her  wits,  the  charms  of  her  woman's  na- 
ture bring  warriors  to  her  feet,  and  by  her  loves 

lP.6. 


**. 


74      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

she  makes  and  unmakes  men  and  kingdoms. 
Vivian  conquers  Merlin.  Guinevere  dooms  the 
round  table  to  dissolution.  The  Princess  as  a 
college  president  is  a  feminine  fizzle,  but  as  the 
beloved  of  the  amorous  prince  she  is  winsome, 
strong,  and  womanly.  She  finds  her  true  self 
and  her  place  in  the  world  by  loyalty  to  sex-in- 
stincts and  by  the  performance  of  sex-functions. 
Margaret  is  besought  not  to  enter  the  toil  of  life.2 
At  every  crossroads  the  poet  erected  a  guide- 
post  pointing  lonely  maidens  to  the 

larger  woman-world 
Of  wives   and  mothers.3 

This  is  not,  to  the  poet's  mind,  belittling 
woman's  nature,  or  her  work  in  the  world.  It  is 
only  saying  that  her  nature  is  not  the  same  as 
man's,  and  that  her  mission  in  the  world  is  de- 
termined by  her  natural  capacities,  tastes,  and 
endowments.  He  really  holds  up  to  condemna- 
tion a  false  idea  of  woman  by  putting  into  the 
mouth  of  the  upstart,  raving  youth  of  Locksley 
Hall  such  words  as  these: 

Woman's  pleasure,  woman's  pain  — 
Nature  made  them  blinder  motions  bounded  in  a  shal- 
lower brain: 

'P.  21. 

8  "  The  Ring,"  p.  821. 


TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  WOMAN  75 

Woman  is  the  lesser  man,  and  all  thy  passions,  matched 

with  mine, 
Are    as   moonlight   unto   sunlight,   and   as   water   unto 

wine.* 

He  does  not  sanction  the  theories  of  Lady  Psyche 
and  Lady  Blanche,  who  maintained 

that  with  equal  husbandry 
The  woman  were  an  equal  to  the  man. 

He  does  not  join  in  the  effort  of  the  Princess, 

To  lift    the  woman's  fallen  divinity 
Upon  an  even  pedestal  with  man.6 

Much  less  does  he  approve  of  the  low  ideal  of  the 
fat-faced  curate,  Edward  Bull: 

God  made  the  woman  for  the  use  of  man, 
And  for  the  good  and  increase  of  the  world.6 

On  the  contrary,  he  demands  that  we 

let  this  proud  watchword  rest  of  Equal  .... 
For  woman  is  not  undevelopt  man 
But  diverse.7 

If  it  be  true,  as  one  lecturer  in  the  Princess'  col- 
lege affirmed,  that  woman's  progress  has  been  re- 
tarded by  prejudice  and  custom  and  convention, 
these    fetters    should   be   broken.     The   right   to 

*  P.  102. 

5 P.  183. 

6 "  Edwin   Morris,"  p.  84. 

7  "  The  Princess,"  p.  214. 


76     SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

freedom  is  the  inalienable  right  of  every  soul. 
But  the  fundamental  fact  is  this  that 

either  sex  alone 
Is  half  itself,  and  in  true  marriage  lies 
Nor  equal,  nor  unequal:  each  fulfils 
Defect  in  each,  and  always  thought  in  thought, 
Purpose  in  purpose,  will  in  will,  they  grow, 
The  single,  pure  and  perfect  animal, 
The  two-celled  heart  beating,  with  one  full  stroke. 
Life.8 

This  summarizes  the  poet's  doctrine  of  the  sig- 
nificance of  sex-differences  and  of  woman's 
proper  partnership  with  man,  especially  in  the 
family. 

Tennyson  also  puts  strong  and  repeated  em- 
phasis upon  the  motherhood  function  of  woman. 
With  this  is  often  connected  her  peculiar  gift  of 
ministry  as  nurse  in  hospital  or  home.  It  was 
Psyche. 

The  mother  of  the  sweetest  little  maid, 
That  ever  crow'd  for  kisses, 

to  whom  Florian  addressed  the  question, 

are  you 
That,  Psyche,  wont  to  bind  my  throbbing  brow, 
To  smooth  my  pillow,  mix  the  foaming  draught 
Of  fever,  tell  me  pleasant  tales,  and  read 
My  sickness  down  to  happy  dreams  ?  * 

gLoc.  cit. 
'Ibid.,  p.  177. 


TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  WOMAN  77 

The  influence  of  the  child  of  Psyche  upon  the 
Princess  and  her  colleagues  is  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  the  statement  that 

The  bearing  and  the  training  of  a  child 
Is  woman's  wisdom.10 

Perhaps  Tennyson's  own  mother  had  by  her  char- 
acter and  life  impressed  this  doctrine  most  deeply 
upon  him,  for  it  was  she  who  is  portrayed  as  his 
ideal  in  the  beautiful  passage: 

One 
Not  learned,  save  in  gracious  household  ways, 
Not  perfect,  nay,  but  full  of  tender  wants, 
No  Angel,  but  a  dearer  being,  all  dipt 
In  Angel  instincts,  breathing  Paradise, 
Interpreter  between  the  Gods  and  men, 
Who  look'd  all  native  to  her  place,  and  yet 
On  tiptoe  seem'd  to  touch  upon  a  sphere 
Too  gross  to  tread,  and  all  male  minds  perforce 
Sway'd  to  her  from  their  orbits  as  they  moved, 
And  girdled  her  with  music.     Happy  he 
With  such  a  mother !     Faith  in  woman  kind 
Beats  with  his  blood,  and  trust  in  all  things  high 
Comes  easy  to  him,  and  tho'  he  trip  and  fall 
He  shall  not  blind  his  soul  with  clay.11 

How  much  this  means  to  all  our  world  is  hinted 
by  Becket,  who  finds  a  wild-fowl  frozen  upon  a 
nest  of  ice-cold  eggs,  and  exclaims : 

10  Ibid.,  p.  202. 

11  Ibid.,  p.  215. 


78     SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TEXXYSOX 

Look !  how  this  love,  this  mother,  runs  thro'  all 
The  world  God  made  —  even  the  beast  —  the  bird  !  " 

This  is  one  of  the  mighty  forces  in  our  world, 
and  it  is  a  permanent  force.  Demeter  in  Enna 
feels  within  herself  "  the  deathless  heart  of  moth- 
erhood." 13  Robin  in  the  forest  shows  how  great 
was  the  influence  of  his  mother  upon  him.  For 
her  sake  "  and  the  blessed  Queen  of  Heaven  " 
he  reverences  all  women.  Tennyson's  mother 
being  to  him  the  revelation  of  God,  it  is  not 
strange  that  he  ever  showed  to  her  that  consid- 
eration and  love  which  could  not  escape  the  no- 
tice of  his  friends.14  In  a  letter  to  his  aunt  he 
speaks  of  her  as  "  one  of  the  most  angelick 
natures  on  God's  earth,  always  doing  good  as  it 
were  by  a  sort  of  intuition."  She  who  in  later 
years  became  the  mother  of  his  children  revealed 
to  him  still  more  of  the  divinity  of  motherhood 
and  exalted  in  his  mind  this  function  of  woman 
in  the  progress  of  the  race.15 

The  secret  of  the  mother's  power  in  the  world 
is  not  a  mystery.  Tennyson's  philosophy  is 
here  at  one  with  all  his  philosophy  of  life.  The 
mightiest  forces  in  the  universe  are  spiritual,  and 
of  all  the  spiritual  forces  the  most  powerful  is 

i; "  Becket,"  Act  V,  sc.  2,  p.  742. 

13 "  Demeter  and    Persephone,"  p.  807. 

14  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  77. 

"Ibid.,  p.  331- 


TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  WOMAN  79 

love.  In  Tennyson's  boyhood  home  the  mother 
"  ruled  by  right  of  love."  This  was  a  lesson 
which  the  poet  never  forgot.  From  it  he  learned 
that  "  love  is  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world." 

As  far  back  as  1847  the  poet's  friends  quote 
him  as  saying  that  one  of  the  two  great  social  y 
questions  impending  in  England  was  "  the  higher  ;  ■)^iv*v 
education  of  women."  16  This  remarkable  in- 
sight into  the  social  problems  of  the  future  is 
shown  again  and  again  in  the  poems.  "  The 
Princess  "  is  in  reality  a  treatise  upon  the  higher 
education  of  women.  It  holds  up  to  ridicule  the 
theory  that  the  woman  is  only  undeveloped  man, 
and  needs  the  same  education  as  he  in  order  to 
attain  her  best.  He  is  sure  that  "  the  sooner 
woman  finds  out,  before  the  great  educational 
movement  begins,  that  woman  is  not  undeveloped 
man,  but_diyerse,"  the  better  it  will  be  for  the 
progress  of  the  world.17  The  Princess  is  a  plea ' 
for  such  training  for  woman  as  shall  best  fit 
her  to  perform  her  own  work  in  the  world.  / 
This  is  not  the  same  as  that  of  man,  but  is 
peculiar  to  herself.  In  the  tragedy  of  "  Queen 
Mary  "  Bagenhall  speaks  of  Lady  Jane  as  one 
whose  attainments  are  those  of  the  ideal  young 
woman. 

18  Ibid.,  p.  249. 
"  Ibid.,  p.  249. 


8o     SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 


Seventeen  —  and  knew  eight  languages ;  in  music 
Peerless  —  her  needle  perfect,  and  her  learning 
Beyond  the  churchmen;  yet  so  meek,  so  modest, 
So  wife-like  humble  to  the  trivial  boy 
Mismatch'd  with  her  for  policy ! 18 

The  actual  woman  of  the  time  is  more  accurately 
sketched  in  a  nonsense  speech  of  Dora  in  "  The 
Promise  of  May."  She  says:  "Can't  I  speak 
like  a  lady;  pen  a  letter  like  a  lady;  talk  a  little 
French  like  a  lady;  play  a  little  like  a  lady?  "  19 

Remembering  the  time  that  "  The  Princess  " 
was  published  (1847),  we  may  we^  can"  ^  tne 
"  herald-melody "  of  the  higher  education  of 
women.  Tennyson  himself  considered  the  prin- 
cess Ida  as  one  of  the  noblest  of  his  feminine  cre- 
ations. The  higher  in  her  subdued  the  lower. 
In  the  end  she  was  true  to  her  obligation  to  the 
social  order  and  to  God. 

He  disliked  pedantry  in  women,  and  never  hesi- 
tated to  say  so.  Hallam  Tennyson  thus  sums  up 
his  father's  teaching  upon  this  subject : 

,  She  (woman)  must  train  herself  to  do  the  large 
work  that  lies  before  her,  even  though  she  may  not  be 
destined  to  be  wife  or  mother,  cultivating  her  under- 
standing not  her  memory  only,  her  imagination  in  its 
highest  phases,  her  inborn  spirituality  and  her  sympa- 
thy with  all  that  is  pure,  noble  and  beautiful,  rather 

"Act  III,  sc.  i,  p.  608. 
"Act  III.  p.  798- 


TENNYSON'S  IDEA  OF  WOMAN  81 

than  mere  social  accomplishments ;  then,  and  then  only, 
will  she  further  the  progress  of  humanity,  then,  and 
then  only,  men  will  continue  to  hold  her  in  reverence.20 

50  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  250. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  FAMILY 

The  essential  freedom  of  the  soul_  was  one  of 
the  fundamental  postulates  of  all  Tennyson's 
thinking.  He  would  admit  the  divine  right  of 
no  convention,  law,  or  ruler  to  annihilate  that 
freedom.  His  problem,  then,  was  to  construct 
an  ideal  social  state,  with  all  its  necessary  laws 
and  institutions,  which  would  also  give  to  the  in- 
dividual the  liberty  to  which  he  has  an  inalien- 
able right.  The  primary  social  body  whose  ex- 
istence makes  possible  the  larger  combinations 
of  society  is  the  family.  Here,  then,  the  problem 
was  first  confronted.  How  shall  the  family  be 
organized  and  maintained  so  that  every  member 
shall  possess  that  peculiar  freedom  which  is  his 
right,  while  at  the  same  time  the  family  is  made 
to  perform  its  proper  function  in  the  social  organ- 
ism? 

The  volume  of  1830  contained  "  The  Poet." 
This  poem  has  one  stanza  which  refers  primarily 
to  the  French  Revolution,  but  which  has  also  a 
certain  application  to  the  formal  rite  by  which 
the  family  is  established : 
82 


THE  FAMILY  83 

And  Freedom  rear'd  in  that  august  sunrise 

Her  beautiful  bold  brow, 
When  rites  and  forms  before  his  burning  eyes 

Melted  like  snow.1 

If  marriage  is  a  form  or  rite  which  stands  as  a 
barrier  to  the  onward  march  of  Freedom,  then 
it  must  be  torn  away.  But  all  freedom,  political 
and  personal,  is  gained  not  by  ignorance  or  scorn 
of  righteous  law,  but  by  obedience  to  it.  Edgar 
in  "  The  Promise  of  May  "  argues  that  the  man, 
by  flinging  aside  "  the  morals  of  his  tribe  and 
following  his  own  instincts  as  his  God, 
Will  enter  on  the  larger  golden  age.2 

His  objection  to  the  bond  of  marriage  is  stated 
thus : 

If  you  will  bind  love  to  one  forever, 

Altho'  at  first  he  takes  his  bonds  for  flowers, 

As  years  go  on,  he  feels  them  press  upon  him, 

Begins  to  flutter  in  them,  and  at  last 

Breaks  thro'  them,  and  so  flies  away  for  ever ; 

While  had  you  left  him  free  use  of  his  wings, 

Who  knows  that  he  had  ever  dreamed  of  flying?3 

Such  words  in  the  mouth  of  such  a  man  as  Edgar 
commend  that  which  they  seem  to  condemn. 
Edgar's  condemnation  of  marriage  is  really  an 
argument  for  the  social  necessity  of  the  marriage 
bond.     Edgar  was   himself   a   failure,   and   the 

1  P.  14. 

2  Act  I,  pp.  784,  785. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  FAMILY 

The  essential  freedom  of  the  soul_  was  one  of 
the  fundamental  postulates  of  all  Tennyson's 
thinking.  He  would  admit  the  divine  right  of 
no  convention,  law,  or  ruler  to  annihilate  that 
freedom.  His  problem,  then,  was  to  construct 
an  ideal  social  state,  with  all  its  necessary  laws 
and  institutions,  which  would  also  give  to  the  in- 
dividual the  liberty  to  which  he  has  an  inalien- 
able right.  The  primary  social  body  whose  ex- 
istence makes  possible  the  larger  combinations 
of  society  is  the  family.  Here,  then,  the  problem 
was  first  confronted.  How  shall  the  family  be 
organized  and  maintained  so  that  every  member 
shall  possess  that  peculiar  freedom  which  is  his 
right,  while  at  the  same  time  the  family  is  made 
to  perform  its  proper  function  in  the  social  organ- 
ism? 

The  volume  of  1830  contained  "The  Poet." 
This  poem  has  one  stanza  which  refers  primarily 
to  the  French  Revolution,  but  which  has  also  a 
certain  application  to  the  formal  rite  by  which 
the  family  is  established : 
82 


THE  FAMILY  83 

And  Freedom  rear'd  in  that  august  sunrise 

Her  beautiful  bold  brow, 
When  rites  and  forms  before  his  burning  eyes 

Melted  like  snow.1 

If  marriage  is  a  form  or  rite  which  stands  as  a 
barrier  to  the  onward  march  of  Freedom,  then 
it  must  be  torn  away.  But  all  freedom,  political 
and  personal,  is  gained  not  by  ignorance  or  scorn 
of  righteous  law,  but  by  obedience  to  it.  Edgar 
in  "  The  Promise  of  May  "  argues  that  the  man, 
by  flinging  aside  "  the  morals  of  his  tribe  and 
following  his  own  instincts  as  his  God, 
Will  enter  on  the  larger  golden  age.2 

His  objection  to  the  bond  of  marriage  is  stated 
thus : 

If  you  will  bind  love  to  one  forever, 

Altho'  at  first  he  takes  his  bonds  for  flowers, 

As  years  go  on,  he  feels  them  press  upon  him, 

Begins  to  flutter  in  them,  and  at  last 

Breaks  thro'  them,  and  so  flies  away  for  ever ; 

While  had  you  left  him  free  use  of  his  wings, 

Who  knows  that  he  had  ever  dreamed  of  flying?3 

Such  words  in  the  mouth  of  such  a  man  as  Edgar 
commend  that  which  they  seem  to  condemn. 
Edgar's  condemnation  of  marriage  is  really  an 
argument  for  the  social  necessity  of  the  marriage 
bond.     Edgar  was    himself   a   failure,   and   the 

1  P.  14. 

2  Act  I,  pp.  784,  785. 


84      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

practical  consequences  of  living  his  theories  brand 
his  creed  as  failure.  Marriage,  then,  is  one  of 
the  essentials  for  the  stability  of  the  family  and 
the  progress  of  society.  "  The  Wreck  "  3  has  the 
necessity  of  marriage  as  its  moral,  though  at 
the  same  time  it  demonstrates  that  no  law  is 
so  just  as  not  at  times  to  be  unjust  to  an  occa- 
sional individual.  If  injustice  ever  be  done,  it 
must  be  endured  for  the  sake  of  the  larger  good 
to  society.  Yet  even  to  the  individual,  marriage 
is  necessary  for  the  completed  life  of  either  man 
or  woman.  This  is  the  conclusion  of  the  experi- 
ment of  "  The  Princess."  4 

There  is,  however,  a  very  strong  insistence 
upon  the  higher  motive  for  marriage.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  detect  in  such  lines  as  these  in  "  Edwin 
Morris,"  the  real  contempt  felt  by  the  poet  for 
the  wedding  when  Mammon  is  the  priest : 

She  went,  and  in  one  month 
They  wedded  her  to  sixty  thousand  pounds, 
To  lands  in  Kent,  and  messuages  in  York, 
And  slight  Sir  Robert  with  his  watery  smile 
And  educated  whisker.5 

The  crime  and  sorrow  of  such  an  alliance  are 
shown  again  and  again.     The  woman  betrothed 

SP.  54i. 

*  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  249. 

8  P.  85. 


THE  FAMILY  85 

to  one  whose  face  she  loathes  to  see,  in  order  to 
save  the  ancestral  estate,  calls  to  her  sister : 
Come,  speak  a  little  comfort !  all  night  I  pray'd  with 

tears, 
And  yet  no  comfort  came  to  me,  and  now  the  morn 

appears, 
When  he  will  tear  me  from  your  side,  who  bought  me 

for  his  slave ; 
This  father  pays  his  debt  with  me,  and  weds  me  to  my 

grave." 

Dora,  in  "  The  Promise  of  May  "  is  confronted 
by  a  similar  condition,  and  is  tempted  to  marry 
Farmer  Dobson,  whom  she  "  can't  abide,"  be- 
cause in  the  financial  straits  of  her  family  he 
could  "  keep  their  heads  above  water."  7  He  is, 
when  matched  with  her  Harold,  "  like  a  hedge 
thistle  by  a  garden  rose."  Harold  was  not  the 
"  garden  rose  "  she  had  imagined  him,  but  this 
mistake  did  not  make  marriage  for  money  more 
worthy  of  approval  in  her  eyes. 

So  likewise  in  "  The  Foresters  "  Marian  was 
urged  by  old  Sir  Richard  to  marry  one  who 
would  pay  the  mortgage,  and  the  maid  spurned 
the  suggestion  with  all  the  strength  of  her  reso- 
lute soul.  Money  and  land  were  to  her  as  noth- 
ing compared  with  her  love  for  Robin.8     There 

«  "  The  Flight,"  p.  552. 

7  p.  796. 

6  p.  840. 


88      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

To  be  of  rich  advantage  to  our  realm, 
We  will  refrain,  and  not  alone  from  this, 
Likewise  from  any  other." 

Sternly  rejecting  all  such  motives  as  these  for 
entering  upon  the  marriage  relation,  Tennyson 
taught  that  marriage  is  of  the  soul,  not  of  the 
body.15  Marian,  the  heroine  of  "The  Forest- 
ers," refuses  to  wed  the  sheriff  for  gold  or  the 
prince  for  policy,  but  clings  to  the  outcast  Robin 
whom  she  loves.  A  marriage  thus  motived 
lends  reason  to  the  belief  of  the  poor  that  "  mar- 
riages are  made  in  Heaven."  16  It  is  only  a 
man  of  the  spirit  of  the  Northern  Farmer,  whose 
greed  has  become  blood  in  his  horse's  legs  that 
say  "  proputty,  proputty,  proputty,"  who  could 
give  to  a  son  such  instruction  as  this: 
Thou'll    not    marry    for    munny  —  thou's    sweet    upo' 

parson's  lass  — 
Noa  —  thou'll   marry   for  luvv  —  an'  we  boath  on  us 

thinks  tha  an  ass." 

Eleanor,  in  the  tragedy  of  "  Becket,"  speaks 
lightly  of  the  affection  of  husband  for  wife  and 
of  wife  for  husband;  but  the  heroic  Becket  re- 
proves her :  "  Madam,  you  do  ill  to  scorn 
wedded    love." 18     How   sincere  and   pure   and . 

""Queen  Mary,"  Act  II,  sc.  2,  p.  509. 

""The  Foresters,"  Act  IV,  sc.  I,  p.  868. 

""Aylmer's   Field,"  p.   145. 

''''Poems,  p.  231. 

18  "  Prologue,"  p.  697. 


THE  FAMILY  89 

deep  that  love  is  which  binds  two  souls  together 
in  ennobling  wedlock  is  more  clearly  shown  by  '• 
the  results  of  such  a  marriage  than  by  lowering  ) 
any  psychological  plummet  into  the  depth  of  love 
itself.  Before  the  true  marriage  can  be  con- 
summated, God  must  have  wrought  "  two  spirits 
to  one  equal  mind."  19  When  that  has  been 
wrought,  the  husband,  understanding  the  sacred- 
ness  and  full  significance  of  the  relationship  upon 
which  he  has  entered,  can  say  to  his  chosen : 

In  the  name  of  wife, 

And  in  the  rights  that  name  may  give, 
Are  clasped  the  moral  of  thy  life, 

And  that  for  which  I  care  to  live.20 

This  does  not  mean  the  subjection  of  one  to  the 
other.     There  is  here  no  slavery,  but  the  com-  ! 
pleted  life  for  each.     The  lover  declares  to  the  | 
Princess : 

my  hopes  and  thine  are  one : 
Accomplish    thou    my   manhood   and   thyself.11 

Even  to  the  Lotos-Eaters,  the  memory  of  wedded    . 
life  was  dear.22     Love  increased  in  purity  and 
strength  with  the  years.     In  later  life  the  hus- 
band thought  of  the  one  whom  he  had  known  i 

19 "  The  Miller's  Daughter,"  p.  39. 
20 "  The  Day  Dream  L'Envoi,"  p.  108. 
21  Poems,  p.  215. 
"Ibid.,  p.  55. 


9o       SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

most  intimately  in  the  sacred  relation  of  the  fam- 
ily as 

the  idol  of  my  youth, 

The  darling  of  my  manhood,  and  alas ! 

Now  the  most  blessed  memory  of  mine  age.23 

Though  this  poem  was  written  before  Tenny- 
son's own  marriage,  these  words  are  a  true  state- 
ment of  his  own  growing  affection  for  his  wife. 
"  The  peace  of  God  came  into  my  life  before  the 
altar  when  I  wedded  her,"  he  declared  in  after- 
days.24  The  obligation  of  husband  to  wife  and 
of  wife  to  husband  is  the  obligation  imposed  by 
the  purest  love.  Each  should  seek  the  most  com- 
plete and  perfect  development  of  the  noblest  pow- 
ers of  the  other.  The  relation  is  not  that  of 
master  and  servant,  but  of  two  godlike  souls  in- 
dissolubly  bound  together,  not  as  equals,  but 
"  like  in  difference,"  growing  liker  in  the  long 
years,"  each  fulfilling  defect  in  each  until  they 
become  "  the  two-celled  heart  beating,  with  one 
full  stroke,  Life."  25 

The  proverbial  perversity  of  Cupid,  and  the 
dramatic  possibilities  of  the  treatment  of  love 
between  those  of  different  rank,  naturally  suggest 
the  frequent  recurrence  of  this  situation  in  the 
poems.     Tennyson's  use  of  this  situation  is,  how- 

13  "  Gardener's  Daughter,"  p.   77. 
"Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  329. 
26  "  Princess,"  p.  214. 


THE  FAMILY  91 

ever,  traditional  rather  than  original.  There  is 
variety  in  his  dramatic  representation  of  the 
problem,  and  in  his  portrayal  of  the  actors  in  the 
drama,  but  his  solution  of  the  difficulty,  if  indeed 
it  can  be  called  a  solution  at  all,  is  neither  new 
nor  striking.  He  gives  noble  emphasis  to  the 
truth  that  it  is  character  and  not  rank  that  makes 
the  man  or  the  woman.  In  "  Lady  Clara  Vere 
de  Vere  "  there  is  perhaps  the  strongest  and  most 
beautiful  statement  of  this  principle  as  related 
to  the  possibility  of  marriage  between  those  of 
different  rank.  It  was  much  for  an  Englishman 
to  say 

A  simple  maiden  in  her  flower 
Is  worth  a  hundred  coat-of-arms. 


Trust  me,  Clara  Vere  de  Vere, 

From  yon  blue  heavens  above  us  bent 
The  gardener  Adam  and  his  wife 

Smile  at  the  claims  of  long  descent. 
Howe'er  it  be,  it  seems  to  me, 

'Tis  only  noble  to  be  good. 
Kind  hearts  are  more  than  coronets, 

And  simple  faith  than  Norman  blood. :d 

Despite  this  fine  statement,  when  "  the  daughter 
of  a  cottager  "  wedded  Sir  Edward  Head,  she 
was  declared  to  be  "  out  of  her  sphere,"  and  only 
unhappiness  was  the  result.27     When  the  Lord 

*°  "  Lady  Clara  Vere  de  Vere,"  p.  49. 
27  "  Walking  to  the  Mail,"  p.  82. 


92       SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

of  Burleigh  loved  and  wed  a  village  maiden,  he 

unknowingly  brought  upon  her  "  the  burthen  of 

an  honour  unto  which  she  was  not  born,"  and 

So  she  droop'd  and  droop'd  before  him. 


Then  before  her  time  she  died. 
In  "  In  Memoriam  "  the  poet  compares 
some  poor  girl  whose  heart  is  set 
On  one  whose  rank  exceeds  her  own," 

to  himself  as  he  thinks  longingly  of  Hallam  in 
his  higher  life  beyond  the  grave.  Such  a  com- 
parison inevitably  suggests  to  the  reader  that  in 
the  mind  of  Tennyson  between  those  of  different 
{  rank  there  was  a  great  gulf  fixed.  For  man  or 
woman  to  pass  that  gulf  and  join  hands  with  one 
loved  on  the  further  side  in  happy  marriage  was 
indeed  difficult. 

This  is  the  poet's  recognition  of  a  fact,  an 
actual  condition  in  the  society  of  his  time.  This 
does  not  imply  that  he  approved  of  that  which  he 
portrayed.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  he 
distinctly  disapproved  of  it.  Lady  Clare  stills 
weds  Lord  Ronald  and  presumably  "  lives  happy 
ever  after,"  even  when  it  is  known  that  she  is 
only  the  daughter  of  the  nurse  and  not  Lady 
Clare  at  all.30     King  Cophetua  likewise 

28  "The  Lord  of  Burleigh,"  p.   117. 

59  LX,  p.  262. 

30 "Lady  Clare,"  p.  114. 


THE  FAMILY  93 

sware  a  royal  oath: 
This  beggar  maid  shall  be  my  queen  ! 31 

Such  lines  as  "  Ring  out  false  pride  in  place  and 
blood  "  32  indicate  that  into  these  poems  he  puts 
his  own  thought  and  conviction.  He  knew  that 
"  The  thrall  in  person  may  be  free  in  soul."  33 
He  had  and  expressed  a  contempt  for  the  "  snob- 
bery of  English  society,"  34  whatever  form  it 
took.  In  what  was  originally  verse  III  in 
"  Maud  "  he  thus  holds  up  to  derision  the  "  Lord- 
Captain  up  at  the  Hall  "  : 

Captain  !  he  to  hold  command ! 
He  can  hold  a  cue,  he  can  pocket  a  ball ; 
And  sure  not  a  bantam  cockerel  lives 
With  a  weaker  crow  upon  English  land, 
Whether  he  boast  of  a  horse  that  gains, 
Or  cackle  his  own  applause.35 

Such  portrayals  of  rank  without  character  reveal 
unmistakably  Tennyson's  own  thought  of  the 
true  relation  of  members  of  one  class  to  those  of 
another.  His  appeal  was  to  reality,  not  to  name 
or  place.  Where  souls  were  joined  together  in  j 
enduring  love  he  knew  that  no  false  pride  of  rank 

""The   Beggar  Maid,"  p.   119. 
82 "In  Memoriam,"  CVL,  p.  278. 
'3 "  Gareth  and  Lynette,"  p.  320. 
84  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  278. 
86  Ibid.,  p.  403. 


94      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

j  should  put  them  asunder.  Yet  that  marriage  be- 
tween those  of  different  social  station  often 
meant  keen  suffering  for  sensitive  souls  of  the 

(  lower  class  who  became  partners  in  such  an  alli- 

I  ance,  he  frankly  avowed. 

He  was  himself  an  ardent  lover  of  children  and 

I  a  firm  believer  in  the  exalted  mission  of  children 

1  in  the  family  and  the  state.  He  has  little  sym- 
pathy with  the  parent  who  tyrannizes  over  the 
child  and  makes  his  own  word  or  whim  a  law 
which  the  child  must  blindly  obey.  The  father 
in  the  poem  of  "  Dora  "  is  such  an  unpitying 
tyrant.36  The  child  who  has  come  to  years  of, 
discretion  and  still  remains  the  "  puppet  to  a 
father's  threat "  37  is  deserving  of  little  respect. 
Parental  love  that  is  intelligent  and  strong  will 
demand  and  receive  an  obedience  that  is  ready 
and  glad.  Children  bind  parents  together  in  a 
holier  love  and  exalt  the  family  as  the  defense 
of  society.  It  was  a  child  that  called  forth  the 
tender  affection  of  Guinevere,  and  caused  her  for 
a  moment  to  forget  herself  and  her  cares  till  the 
little  Nestling  past  from  her.38  Later  it  was  a 
child  within  the  nunnery  walls  who  became  the 
companion  of  the  despairing  queen,  and  while  in- 
nocently wounding  her  with  tales  of  the  wicked 

39  P.  77- 

Z7  "  Locksley  Hall,"  p.  99. 

'*  "  The  Last  Tournament,"  p.  443. 


THE  FAMILY  95 

consort  of  the  noble  Arthur,  yet  at  the  same  time 
aroused  in  her  the  high  ambitions  which  aided 
in  her  redemption.  One  cannot  help  wondering 
what  influence  the  Nestling  would  have  had  upon 
the  character  of  the  queen  if  the  babe  had  lived. 
Would  Guinevere  and  the  Round  Table  have  thus 
been  saved?  The  child  is  really  the  heroine  of 
"  The  Princess  "  and  brings  the  college  to  sanity 
and  success. 

The  importance  of  the  child  to  the  family  and 
to  society  gives  to  the  perils  that  threaten  him 
very  great  significance.  One  of  the  children  of 
Enoch  Arden  died  because  of  poverty,  or  because 
the  mother's  business  often  called  her  from  home. 
This  was  but  one  of  many  such  innocent  sufferers. 
In  "  Maud  "  we  read  of  the  time 

When  a  Mammonite  mother  kills  her  babe  for  a  burial 

fee, 
And   Timour-mammon   grins   on   a   pile   of  children's 

bones.34 

Farther  on  in  the  same  poem  he  declares  that  all 
the  arsenic  is  used  up  in  poisoning  the  babes.40 
The  spinster  in  the  dialect  poem  "  The  Spinster's 
Sweet-Arts "  says :  "  I  niver  not  wish'd  fur 
childer,  I  hevn't  naw  likin'  fur  brats ;  "  41  and  she 
is  recognized  as  the  representative  of  a  class. 

39  P.  287. 

40  P.  306. 

41  P.  559- 


g6     SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Thousands  of  unwelcome  children  are  born  on 
crowded  streets,  and  "  city  children  soak  and 
blacken  soul  and  sense  in  city  slime."  42  These 
are  facts  to  be  reckoned  with  by  the  poet,  who 
is  also  a  student  of  society,  who  knows  of  the 
significance  of  the  child  to  the  family  and  to  the 
state.  He  condemned  the  Cambridge  of  1830 
because  it  stood  apart  from  its  age, 

Because  the  lips  of  little  children  preach 
Against  you,  you  that  do  profess  to  teach 
And  teach  us  nothing,  feeding  not  the  heart.43 

A  favorite  saying  of  his  was :  "  Make  the  lives 
of  children  as  beautiful  and  as  happy  as  possi- 
ble." 44  The  perils  of  society  caused  by  the  neg- 
lect or  abuse  of  children  he  would  seek  to  banish 
by  making  the  life  of  every  child  bright  and  ' 
joyous. 

That  the  poet  was  not  without  interest  and  be- 
lief in  the  doctrine  of  heredity  is  evidenced  by 
various  passages  in  the  poems.  Speaking  of 
"  Maud  "  he  says : 

Some  peculiar,  mystic  grace 
Made  her  only  the  child  of  her  mother, 
And  heap'd  the  whole  inherited  sin 
On  that  huge  scapegoat  of  the  race, 
All,  all  upon  the  brother.45 

42 "  Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  566. 
"Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  67. 
"Ibid.,  p.   371. 
"  Sec.   13,  p.  295. 


THE  FAMILY  97 

Balin  looked  with  profound  admiration  upon 
Lancelot  and  marveled  that  he  himself  was  so  far 
surpassed  by  this  favorite  of  the  king,  muttering : 

These  be  gifts, 

Born  with  the  blood,  not  learnable,  divine, 

Beyond  my  reach.™ 

The  wife  and  mother  who  had  deserted  her  hus- 
band and  child  for  a  man  who  was  a  dwarf  in 
stature  but  a  giant  in  intellect,  when  she  made 
her  confession  to  her  mother,  sought  to  comfort 
herself  with  the  words:  "  But  if  sin  be  sin,  not 
inherited  fate,  as  many  will  say."  47  The  An- 
cient Sage  takes  up  the  theme  and  says: 

In  the  fatal  sequence  of  this  world 

An  evil  thought  may  soil  thy  children's  blood.48 

"  Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After  "  gives  us  a 
cautious  yet  positive  statement  of  the  same  doc- 
trine : 
She  the  worldling  born  of  worldlings  —  father,  mother 

—  be  content, 
Ev'n  the  homely  farm  can  teach  us  there  is  something 


in  descent.4 


But  the  most  dramatic  portrayal  of  the  principle 
occurs  in  "  The  Promise  of  May,"  in  which  the 
poet  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Harold  the  words : 

" "  Balin  and  Balan,"  p.  372. 
47 "  The  Wreck,"  p.  543. 

48  Poems,  pp.  551,  552. 

49  P.  561. 


98      SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

O  this  mortal  house, 
Which  we  are  born  into,  is  haunted  by 
The  ghosts  of  the  dead  passions  of  dead  men ; 
And  these  take  flesh  again  with  our  own  flesh, 
And  bring  us  to  confusion.50 

His  belief  in  heredity  was  to  him,  however,  not  } 
a  cause  for  despair,  but  rather  a  call  to  conflict. 
In  the  course  of  his  talk  with  a  young  man  who 
was  going  to  the  university  he  said :     "  The  real 
test  of  a  man  is  not  what  he  knows,  but  what  he 
is  in  himself  and  in  his  relation  to  others.     For 
instance,  can  he  battle  against  his  own  bad  in- 
herited instincts,  or  brave  public  opinion  in  the! 
cause  of  truth."  51     Tennyson  not  only  believed  ' 
and  taught  that  bad  inherited  instincts  may  be 
conquered,  but  himself  sounded  the  call  to  battle  ■ 
with  those  instincts. 

Perhaps  no  writer  has  ever  given  to  the  world 
pictures  of  English  home  and  country  life  more 
original  and  beautiful  in  form  than  those  given 
by  Tennyson  in  such  poems  as  "  The  Gardener's 
Daughter,"  "Dora,"  "  Audley  Court,"  "The 
Talking  Oak,"  "  Locksley  Hall,"  "  Godiva," 
"  Lady  Clare,"  "  The  Lord  of  Burleigh,"  and 
several  others.  He  believed  and  taught  that  the 
stability  and  greatness  ot  a"  nation  depend  largely 
upon  the  home  life  of  the  people.     He  had  true 

60  Act  II,  p.  789. 

D1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  318. 


THE  FAMILY  99 

joy  in  the  family  duties  and  affections.  It  is 
only  the  simple  truth  to  say,  as  his  son  has  said, 
that  this  was  one  of  the  secrets  of  his  power  over 
mankind.52 

"Ibid.,  p.  189. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SOCIETY 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  a  poet,  viewing  life 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  artist,  will  deal  largely 
in  the  technical  terms  of  the  sociologist.  A  man 
may  have  an  important  message  to  deliver  con- 
cerning the  needs  and  destiny  of  society,  even 
though  he  use  some  other  phrase  than  "  the  so- 
cial organism "  to  embody  his  profoundest 
thought.  We  shall  look  in  vain  in  the  writings 
of  Tennyson  for  terms  which  are  regarded  by 
some  as  words  of  magic  in  social  science.  He 
has  none  such.  Practical  students  of  sociology 
will  regard  this  as  a  virtue  rather  than  a  defect. 
What  he  has  to  say  of  the  nature  and  vices  and 
mission  of  human  society  he  says  as  a  poet.  He 
is,  to  be  sure,  especially  attracted  by  the  dramatic 
phases  of  the  social  problem,  but  these  are  to 
him,  after  all,  only  outward  signs  of  inner  con- 
ditions, only  incidents  in  a  journey  whose  end  no 
man  can  clearly  foresee  nor  fully  foretell.  His 
critics  accused  him  of  living  in  the  past.  Carlyle 
described  him  to  Sir  J.  Simeon  as  "  sitting  on  a 
dung-heap    among    innumerable    dead    dogs."  1 

1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  340. 

100 


SOCIETY  101 

He  said  of  himself:  "The  far  future  has  been 
my  world  always."  2  He  did  study  the  past  and 
sing  of  its  greatest  achievements,  but  the  past 
was  to  him  a  prophecy  of  the  future.  He  did 
live  in  the  far  future  as  his  world,  but  it  is  a 
future  which  is  the  natural  fulfilment  of  the 
prophecies  of  the  present  and  the  past. 

His  ideal  of  society  is  really  determined  by  his 
ideal  of  man.  Man  is  a  free  spiritual  being 
dwelling  in  a  body.  He  is  in  part  a  product  of 
evolution,  yet  aspires  after  infinitely  greater 
things  than  he  has  ever  attained.  Endowed  with 
such  unmeasured  capacities  crying  for  develop- 
ment, he  has  claims  for  recognition  in  the  social 
body  which  must  not  be  ignored.  In  general,  the 
interests  of  the  individual  and  the  interests  of  so- 
ciety are  one,  but  there  are  times  when  this  seems 
not  to  be  the  fact.  The  well-being  of  society  is 
largely  dependent  upon  the  sacredness  of  the  fam- 
ily. The  highest  interests  of  the  family  are 
largely  dependent  upon  the  sanctity  of  the  mar- 
riage bond.  That  sanctity  must  be  maintained, 
even  though  it  seems  to  work  hardship  for  the 
individual.  This  is  well  illustrated  in  "  The 
Wreck." 

The  exception  gives  added  weight  to  the  rule. 
He  entitles  his  lines  on  pantheism  "  The  Higher 
Pantheism,"  because,  unlike  this  doctrine  in  the 

'Ibid.,  p.  1 68. 


102.  SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

East,  he  gives  the  individual  full  and  free  ac- 
tion. This  poem  recognizes  the  universal  with- 
out obscuring  the  individual.  The  "  Flower  in 
the  Crannied  Wall "  expresses  essentially  the 
same  thought.  Science  has  by  its  vast  concep- 
tions tended  to  give  man  a  relatively  lower  place 
in  the  great  cosmic  world.  The  poet  calls  us  back 
to  the  true  idea  of  the  individual,  and  shows  the 
real  relation  which  exists  between  the  progress  of 
man  and  that  of  society.  As  man  advances,  so- 
ciety progresses.  The  exception  just  cited  is 
more  apparent  than  real,  for  Tennyson  makes 
large  use  of  the  doctrine  of  self-sacrifice.  It  is 
only  as  the  individual  loses  his  own  life  for  the 
sake  of  love  that  he  saves  it  for  himself  and  for., 
society.  There  is  then  no  actual  inconsistency7 
between  the  lines  in  "  Amphion," 

And  I  must  work  thro'  months  of  toil, 
And  years  of  cultivation, 

Upon  my  proper  patch  of  soil 
To  grow  my  own  plantation.3 

and  the  more  exalted  spirit  of  the  "  Ode  on  the 

Death  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington," 
Who  cares  not  to  be  great 
But  as  he  saves  or  serves  the  state.* 

There  is  here  no  chance  for  asceticism.     Every 
true  man  says  of  himself:     "  I  will  not  shut  me 

3  P.  109. 

4  P.  220. 


SOCIETY  103 

from  my  kind."  5  He  comes  so  near  to  his  fel- 
low-men of  different  creed  and  color  that  he  can 
"  cull  from  every  faith  and  race  the  best,"  6  and 
at  the  same  time  give  to  others  the  best  he  has 
gained  from  his  own  life-experience.  This  is 
really  the  best  preparation  that  anyone  can  have 
to  answer  the  questions  which  the  poet  imagines 
the  Almighty  to  ask  everyone  who  appears  before 
him  in  the  next  life :  "  Have  you  been  true  to 
yourself  and  given  in  My  Name  a  cup  of  cold 
water  to  one  of  these  little  ones?"7  He  does  < 
not  cry  out  against  the  age  as  hopelessly  bad,  but 
tries  to  show  wherein  it  is  wrong,  in  order  that 
each  individual  may  do  his  best  to  redeem  it.j 
The  evils  he  denounces  are  individual,  and  can 
be  cured  only  as  each  man  looks  to  his  own 
heart.8  This  has  real  meaning  for  society,  for  he 
held  that  each  individual  has  a  spiritual  and  eter- 
nal significance  with  relation  to  other  individual 
wills.9 

Tennyson  came  to  the  noble  conception  of 
human  society  as  a  great  brotherhood,  but  he  ar- 
rived at  that  destination  via  his  own  England. 
It  seems  hardly  thinkable  now  that  he  could  have 

b"In  Memoriam,"  CVIII.  p.  278. 

*  "  Akbar's  Dream,"  p.  879. 
'  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  309. 
"Ibid.,  p.  46& 

*  Ibid.,  p.  319 


104    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

been  so  chilled  by  the  cold  reception  given  his 
earlier  poems  as  seriously  to  consider  changing 
his  residence  to  Jersey  or  the  south  of  France  or 
Italy.10  One  could  scarcely  think  of  Tennyson 
as  living  anywhere  except  in  England.  He_was 
English  to  the  core.     He  said : 

That  man's  the  best  Cosmopolite 
Who  loves  his  native  country  best,11 

and  there  could  be  no  better  illustration  of  the 
statement  than  Tennyson  himself.  His  patriotic 
stanzas  give  ample  evidence  that  it  was  his  own 
conviction  that 

there's  no  glory 
Like  his  who  saves  his  country.12 

It  was  not,  however,  a  narrow,  insular  England 
to  which  he  gave  his  heart's  devotion,  but  the 
England  of  broad  domain,  of  many  peoples,  and 
with  a  noble  destiny  to  fulfil  as  the  divine  bene- 
factor of  the  world.     It  was  to  him  "  the  eye, 
the  soul  of  Europe,"  and  he  called  upon  states- 
men to 
Keep  our  noble  England  whole, 
And  save  the  one  true  seed  of  freedom  sown 
Betwixt  a  people  and  their  ancient  throne, 
That  sober  freedom  out  of  which  there  springs 
Our  loyal  passion  for  our  temperate  kings ; 

10  Memoir,  Vol.   I,  p.  97. 

11 "  Hands  All  Round,"  p.  575. 

12  "  Queen  Mary,"  p.  595. 


SOCIETY  105 

For,  saving  that,  ye  help  to  save  mankind 

Till  public  wrong  be  crumbled  into  dust, 

And  drill  the  raw  world  for  the  march  of  mind, 

Till  crowds  at  length  be  sane,  and  crowns  be  just." 

He  further  declares  in  "  The  Third  of  Febru- 
ary :  " 

No  little  German  state  are  we 

But  the  one  voice  in  Europe.1* 

This  judgment  of  the  position  of  England  among 
the  powers  of  the  world  was  justified  by  history. 
It  was  not  a  new  thing  for  this  great  land  to  con-  , 
tend  for  liberty.  We  have  "  fought  for  freedom 
from  our  prime,"  he  cried.15  With  such  a  past 
the  Foresters  could  sing  with  all  the  enthusiasm 
of  their  sturdy  natures  : 

There  is  no  land  like  England 
Where'er  the  light  of  day  be ; 

There  are  no  hearts  like  English  hearts 
Such  hearts  of  oak  as  they  be." 

When  he  cried,  "  Britons,  guard  your  own,"  he 
called  upon  his  people  to  defend  that  which  had 
the  deepest  significance  for  the  world  as  well  as 
for  themselves.  To  be  true  to  their  own  past  was 
to  be  true  to  their  highest  and  widest  world- 
destiny.17     England  was  to  him  "  the  little  isle 

"  Ode  on  the  Death  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,"  p.  220. 
P.  221. 
P.  222. 
*"The  Foresters,"  Act  II,  sc.  1,  p.  846. 
Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  344. 


io6    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

where  a  man  may  still  be  true,"  18  and  every- 
where the  one  who  is  true  to  himself  cannot  be 
tfalse  to  any  man.  In  one  of  the  closing  lines  of 
"Maud"  we  have  a  statement  of  a  conclusion 
arrived  at  after  much  struggle,  and  which  shows 
the  natural  progress  from  love  of  country  to 
union  with  all  mankind :  "  I  have  felt  with  my 
native  land,  I  am  one  with  my  kind."  19  This 
conclusion  is  reached  despite  a  frank  admission 
of  Britain's  gravest  faults,  her  "  lust  for  gold," 
her  adoration  of  "  her  one  sole  God  —  the  mil- 
lionaire," 20  and  all  the  vices  usually  attendant 
upon  such  lust  and  gross  idolatry. 

Such  individual  and  social  crimes  are  not  pe- 
culiar to  the  people  of  his  England.  They  are 
everywhere.  As  they  are  traitors  to  the  reign 
of  love  in  one  land,  so  they  war  against  the  forces 
of  human  brotherhood  everywhere,  seeking  to 
advance  and  take  possession  of  the  world.     Now 

we  cannot  be  kind  to  each  other  here  for  an  hour ! 
We    whisper   and    hint    and    chuckle,    and   grin    at   a 
brother's  shame,21 

whether  that  brother  be  in  our  own  or  in  another 
land.  It  is  not  a  great  extension  of  the  patriotic 
conception  to  include  in  the  national  brotherhood 


18  hoc.  cit.,  p.  438. 

"P.  308. 

i0  P.  307. 

S1 "  Maud,"  p.  200. 


SOCIETY  107 

the  "  Indian  brothers "  who  fought  bravely  in 
"  The  Defence  of  Lucknow."  22  A  common  flag 
does  much  to  assure  those  who  fight  under  it 
that  they  are  one  people.  It  is  much  more  sig- 
nificant when  he  says,  in  his  lines  "  To  Victor 
Hugo  "  : 

England,  France,  all  man  to  be 

Will  make  one  people  ere  man's  race  be  run.23 

France  was  the  land  of  revolution  where  was  the 
"  red,  fool  fury  of  the  Seine ; "  and  everyone 
knows  how  cordially  Tennyson  hated  these  bloody 
outbreaks  of  the  lawless  spirit. 

To  include  the  people  of  France  in  his  thought 
of  the  coming  brotherhood  was  a  distinct  ad- 
vance. Still  further  progress  in  the  same  direc- 
tion is  chronicled  in  the  "  Epilogue,"  where  these 
words  occur : 

Slav,  Teuton,  Kelt,  I  count  them  all 

My  friends  and  brother  souls, 
With  all  the  peoples,  great  and  small, 
That  wheel  between  the  poles.24 

We  do  not  wonder  that  such  a  citizen  of  the 
world  and  lover  of  mankind  sees  in  vision  "  all 
the  millions  one  at  length."  25  Where  there  is 
a  oneness  of  the  millions,  where  one  individual 

"P.  520. 

23  P.  534- 

24  P.  570. 

25 "  Locksley  Hall   Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  564. 


no    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

The  poet  was  in  his  own  life  true  to  this  teaching 
of  his  verse.  His  son  informs  us  that  the  sever- 
est punishment  he  ever  received  from  his  father 
was  for  some  want  of  respect  to  one  of  their 
servants.34 

Tennyson  does  not  fail  to  recognize  the  pres- 
ence of  noble  qualities  in  those  of  high  rank,  as 
in  the  man  who  left  his  wine  and  horses  and  play 
to  sit  with  Maud  in  her  sickness,  to  read  to  her 
night  and  day  and  tend  her  like  a  nurse.35  But 
the  reader  is  never  left  with  the  impression  that 
such  nobleness  of  character  is  the  result  of  rank. 
Tennyson  puts  his  own  conviction  into  such  words 
as  those  uttered  by  Sir  Gareth  to  the  maiden  de- 
claring that  the  knave  that  does  service  as  full 
knight  is  all  as  good  as  any  knight.36  "  The 
gentler  born  the  more  bound  to  be  serviceable."  3T 
In  "  Queen  Mary  "  the  Lords  are  bought  with 
Philip's  gold.3S     Becket  speaks  of  the 

baron-brutes 
That  havock'd  all  the  land  in  Stephen's  day.39 

Dobson,  in  "  The  Promise  of  May,"  solves  the 
whole  problem  at  a  stroke  and  cries :     "  Damn 

M  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  370. 

35 "  Maud,"  p.  209. 

59 "  Gareth  and  Lynette,"  p.  334. 

M  "  Lancelot  and  Elaine,"  p.  408. 

38  Act  III,  sc.  1,  p.  605. 

"""Becket,"  Act  I.  sc.   1,  p.  701. 


SOCIETY  in 

all  gentlemen,  says  I."  40  Robin,  in  "  The  For- 
esters," speaks  of  "  these  proud  priests,  and  these 
Barons,  Devils,  that  make  this  blessed  England 
hell."  41  Friar  Tuck  threatens  Prince  John  and 
mutters  of  him  to  the  sheriff :  "  He  may  be 
prince ;  he  is  not  gentleman."  42  In  a  letter  to 
Mrs.  Russell,  written  in  1847,  tne  Poet  puts  into 
prose  something  of  his  feeling  toward  those  of 
rank.  He  says :  "  Why  do  all  English  country 
gentlemen  talk  of  dogs,  horses,  roads,  crops,  etc  ? 
It  is  better  after  all  than  affecting  Art  and  Feel- 
ing :  they  would  make  a  poor  hand  of  that,  though 
you  tried  to  help  them  out.  I  wish  they  would 
be  a  little  kinder  to  the  poor.  I  would  honor 
them  then  and  they  might  talk  what  they 
would."  43 

Wealth  and  rank  are  at  least  supposed  to  go 
together.  There  are  so  many  exceptions  to  this 
statement  that  practical  people  are  often  inclined 
to  construe  it  as  a  "  supposition  contrary  to  fact." 
Wealth  is,  however,  a  co-worker  with  rank  in  di- 
viding society  into  classes  and  postponing  the 
dawn  of  the  day  of  universal  brotherhood.  The 
possession  of  wealth  imposes  the  obligation  to 
serve,  but  many  who  possess  it  are  not  kind  to 

40  Act  II,  p.  793. 

41  Act  III,  sc.  1,  p.  857. 
'"-Ibid.,  Act  IV,  sc.   1,  p.  807. 
43  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  243. 


no    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

The  poet  was  in  his  own  life  true  to  this  teaching 
of  his  verse.  His  son  informs  us  that  the  sever- 
est punishment  he  ever  received  from  his  father 
was  for  some  want  of  respect  to  one  of  their 
servants.34 

Tennyson  does  not  fail  to  recognize  the  pres- 
ence of  noble  qualities  in  those  of  high  rank,  as 
in  the  man  who  left  his  wine  and  horses  and  play 
to  sit  with  Maud  in  her  sickness,  to  read  to  her 
night  and  day  and  tend  her  like  a  nurse.35  But 
the  reader  is  never  left  with  the  impression  that 
such  nobleness  of  character  is  the  result  of  rank. 
Tennyson  puts  his  own  conviction  into  such  words 
as  those  uttered  by  Sir  Gareth  to  the  maiden  de- 
claring that  the  knave  that  does  service  as  full 
knight  is  all  as  good  as  any  knight.36  "  The 
gentler  born  the  more  bound  to  be  serviceable.'" 3T 
In  "  Queen  Mary  "  the  Lords  are  bought  with 
Philip's  gold.3S     Becket  speaks  of  the 

baron-brutes 
That  havock'd  all  the  land  in  Stephen's  day.39 

Dobson,  in  "  The  Promise  of  May,"  solves  the 
whole  problem  at  a  stroke  and  cries:     "Damn 

"Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  370. 

38 "  Maud,"  p.  299. 

s° "  Gareth  and  Lynette,"  p.  334. 

i7  "  Lancelot  and  Elaine,"  p.  408. 

38  Act  III,  sc.  1,  p.  605. 

"""Becket,"  Act  I,  sc.   1,  p.  701. 


SOCIETY  in 

all  gentlemen,  says  I."  40  Robin,  in  "  The  For- 
esters," speaks  of  "  these  proud  priests,  and  these 
Barons,  Devils,  that  make  this  blessed  England 
hell."  41  Friar  Tuck  threatens  Prince  John  and 
mutters  of  him  to  the  sheriff :  "  He  may  be 
prince;  he  is  not  gentleman."42  In  a  letter  to 
Mrs.  Russell,  written  in  1847,  the  poet  puts  into 
prose  something  of  his  feeling  toward  those  of 
rank.  He  says :  "  Why  do  all  English  country 
gentlemen  talk  of  dogs,  horses,  roads,  crops,  etc  ? 
It  is  better  after  all  than  affecting  Art  and  Feel- 
ing :  they  would  make  a  poor  hand  of  that,  though 
you  tried  to  help  them  out.  I  wish  they  would 
be  a  little  kinder  to  the  poor.  I  would  honor 
them  then  and  they  might  talk  what  they 
would."  43 

Wealth  and  rank  are  at  least  supposed  to  go 
together.  There  are  so  many  exceptions  to  this 
statement  that  practical  people  are  often  inclined 
to  construe  it  as  a  "  supposition  contrary  to  fact." 
Wealth  is,  however,  a  co-worker  with  rank  in  di- 
viding society  into  classes  and  postponing  the 
dawn  of  the  day  of  universal  brotherhood.  The 
possession  of  wealth  imposes  the  obligation  to 
serve,  but  many  who  possess  it  are  not  kind  to 

40  Act  II,  p.  793. 

41  Act  III,  sc.   1,  p.  857- 

42  Ibid.,  Act  IV,  sc.   1,  p.  807. 

43  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  243. 


ii2    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

the  poor.  When  they  bestow  help  upon  those 
who  are  in  need,  they  throw  their  gifts  carelessly 
as  those  "  who  care  not  how  they  give."  44  "  The 
gold  that  gilds  the  straiten'd  forehead  of  the 
fool  "  45  is  only  a  curse  to  the  one  who  possesses 
it  and  to  the  society  in  which  he  moves.  It  is 
only  wealth  wisely  used  that  is  a  blessing  to-the 
world.  The  love  of  money  for  its  own  sake  leads 
to  corruption  in  society  and  the  separation  of 
man  from  his  brother.  "  Every  door  is  barr  d 
with  gold,  and  opens  but  to  golden  keys,"  and 
"  the  jingling  of  the  guinea  helps  the  hurt  that 
Honour  feels.46 

But  there  are  other  truthful  accusations  to  be 
laid  at  the  door  of  humanity-corrupting  gold : 

This  filthy  marriage-hindering  Mammon  made 
The  harlot  of  the  cities." 

"  Cowardice  "  is  "  the  child  of  lust  for  gold."  4S 
The  Earl  of  Devon,  was  an  example  of  a  class  and 
of  him  Mary  speaks  as 

the  fool  — 
He  wrecks  his  health  and  wealth  on  courtesans, 
And  rolls  himself  in  carrion  like  a  dog.49 

44 "  Tithonus,"  p.  96. 

45  "  Locksley  Hall,*'  p.  99. 

"Ibid.,  p.  100. 

47  "  Aylmer's  Field,"  p.  148. 

48  "  To  the  Queen,"  p.  475. 

49 "  Queen  Mary,"  Act  I,  sc.  5,  p.  58. 


SOCIETY  113 

The  press  of  a  thousand  cities  has  felt  the  influ- 
ence of  this  corrupting  power,  and  "  easily  vio- 
lates virgin  Truth  for  a  coin  or  a  cheque."  50 
Against  the  worship  of  this  money-god  the  poet 
gave  his  voice  and  his  example.  In  time  of 
threatened  financial  loss  which  would  mean  much 
to  him,  his  wife  wrote :  "  A.  showed  a  noble 
disregard  of  money,  much  as  the  loss  would  af- 
fect us."  51  The  first  canto  of  "  Maud  "  Tenny- 
son was  accustomed  to  read  aloud  in  a  sort  of 
rushing  recitative  through  the  long  sweeping 
lines  of  satire  and  invective  against  the  greed  for 
money.5—  He  was  often  in  need  of  money  him- 
self, but  he  never  could  or  would  write  a  line  for 
it.  That  would  have  been  to  him  the  perversion 
of  his  art.53 

He  looked  forward  to  the  coming  of  a  nobler 
spirit  into  society  —  a  spirit  that  masters  wealth  _ 
and  insists  upon  making  it,  not  the  destruction 
of  the  few  through  luxury  and  excess,  but  the 
servant  of  the  many  through  intelligent,  unselfish 
use  for  the  good  of  the  world.  So  he  calls: 
"  Ring  out  the  narrowing  lust  for  gold."  54  A 
part  of  his  vision  of  "  The  Golden  Year  "  is  of 
the  time 

60  "The  Dawn,"  p.  888. 

51  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  415. 

52  Ibid.,  p.  396. 

53  Ibid.,  p.  280. 

54 "  In  Memoriam,"  CVI,  p.  278. 


ii4    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

When  wealth  no  more  shall  rest  in  mounded  heaps, 

But  smit  with  freer  light  shall  slowly  melt 

In  many  streams  to  fatten  lower  lands, 

And  light  shall  spread,  and  man  be  liker  man.55 

The  division  of  society  into  classes  results  in 
the  corruption  and  degradation  of  those  possessed 
of  wealth  and  rank,  inducing  in  them  idleness, 
luxury,  and  excess.  The  poor  suffer  in  a  differ- 
ent way,  but  none  the  less  severely.  Tennyson 
has  done  much  to  make  the  sufferings  and  pri- 
vations of  the  poor  a  reality_t_o_  the  ^reading  and 

thinking    people    of    England  -and the    world. 

When  Enoch  Arden  was  disabled  by  an  accident, 
and  his  income  was  decreased  by  the  "  creeping 
of  another  hand  across  his  trade,"  he  saw  as  in 
a  nightmare  his  children  leading  "  low,  miserable 
lives  of  hand-to-mouth,"  and  his  beloved  wife  a 
beggar.56  So  near  to  the  line  of  actual  want  was 
he  compelled  to  live  that,  when  temporarily  dis- 
abled, he  was  in  abject  fear  of  beggary.  In  the 
cities  "  the  poor  are  hovell'd  and  hustled  together, 
each  sex,  like  swine,"  and  have  chalk  and  alum 
and  plaster  sold  to  them  for  bread.57  Devitalized 
by  such  unhealthful  food,  and  imperiled  by  con- 
ditions of  life  which  make  morality  all  but  an 
impossibility,  what  wonder  that  some  people  say 

"P.  94. 

53  "  Enoch  Arden,"  p.  126. 

57  "  Maud,"  Part  I,  sees,  ix  and  x,  p.  287. 


SOCIETY  115 

with  the  Northern  Farmer  (new  style)  that  "the 
poor  in  a  loomp  is  bad." 5S  This  is  unjust, 
though  it  is  true  that  some  of  them  do  waste  their 
wages  at  a  pothouse,59  some  steal  coal  to  warm 
their  window-broken,  unsanitary  hovels,60  and 
those  who  become  beggars  tramp  the  country, 
filch  the  linen  from  the  hawthorn,  poison  the 
house  dogs,  and  scare  lonely  maidens  at  the 
farmsteads.61  These,  however,  are  the  acts  of 
individuals  or  of  classes  among  the  poor.  Be- 
cause of  such  facts  as  these  one  has  no  right  to 
say  that  "  the  poor  in  a  loomp  is  bad."  On  the 
contrary, 

Plowmen,    Shepherds,   have   I   found,   and  more   than 

once,  and  still  could  find, 
Sons  of  God,  and  kings  of  men  in  utter  nobleness  of 

mind.62 

The  condition  of  a  humble  milkmaid  was  not 
so  hard  as  to  keep  Princess  Elizabeth  from  envy- 
ing her  joys  and  labors.63  This  indicates  that 
life  in  the  country  may  be  more  tolerable  for  the 
poor  than  life  in  the  city.  It  shows  as  well  that  J 
the  rich  and  titled  have  their  sorrows  and  suffer- 
ings as  certainly  as  do  the  poor.      Every  condi- 

58  Poems,  p.  232. 

59 "  The  Promise  of  May,"  Act  III,  p.  795. 

b0  Ibid. 

""The  Foresters,"  Act  III,  sc.   1,  p.  858. 

B2"Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  563. 

153  "  Queen  Mary,"  p.  620. 


n6    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

tion  in  life  has  its  joys,  its  delights,  and  its  hard- 
!    ships  and  griefs.     Rich  and  poor  should  share 
=.    each  other's  burdens  and  recognize  the  bonds  of 
I  a  common  brotherhood,  because  of  their  real  kin- 
ship to  each  other  and  the  commonness  of  the 
deepest  life-experiences. 

Tennyson  felt  the  hardships  of  the  poor.  In 
the  rick-burning  days  he  largely  sympathized 
with  the  laborers  in  their  demands,  though  he 
saw  that  they  were  taking  the  wrong  course  to 
accomplish  their  purpose.64  The  riots  of  the 
poorer  classes,  so  far  from  arousing  his  disgust 
and  condemnation,  only  filled  him  with  an  earnest 
desire  to  do  something  to  help  those  who  lived  in 
misery  among  the  "  warrens  of  the  poor." 65 
Hallam  shared  this  laudable  ambition  of  his 
friend,  and  the  two  often  talked  of  the  wretched- 
ness of  the  poorer  classes  which  so  weighed  upon 
their  minds.  They  appreciated  the  great  diffi- 
culty of  learning  how  to  remedy  these  evils,  but 
they  determined  not  to  lose  hold  of  the  real  in 
seeking  the  ideal.  Hallam  wrote :  "  Where  the 
ideas  of  time  and  sorrow  are  not,  and  sway  not 
the  soul  with  power,  there  is  no  true  knowledge 
in  Poetry  or  Philosophy."  66  In  a  letter  to  Au- 
brey de  Vere,  written  in  1847,  Tennyson  showed 

"Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  41. 
66  Ibid.,  p.  42. 
"Ibid.,  p.  83. 


SOCIETY  117 

the  same  sympathetic  interest  in  the  poor,  and 
feared  that  the  bitter  weather  would  be  very  hard 
upon  them.67  When  he  visited  Ireland  at  the  in- 
vitation of  this  friend,  he  was  greatly  shocked 
at  the  poverty  of  the  peasantry  and  the  marks 
of  havoc  wrought  in  the  country  by  the  great 
potato  famine.68  He  called  upon  the  poor  in  his 
own  vicinage  and  aided  them  from  his  own  re- 
sources. The  admiration  of  an  old  man  who 
committed  his  poems  to  memory  because  he  was 
too  poor  to  buy  a  printed  copy,  Tennyson  reck- 
oned the  highest  honor  he  had  ever  received  up 
to  that  time.  Thus  throughout  his  life,  by  poems 
and  influence  and  example,  he  called  to  the  people 
of  his  land  and  of  every  land : 

Ring  out  the  feud  of  rich  and  poor, 
Ring  in  redress  to  all  mankind.89 

There  is  nothing  to  contradict,  and  much  to 
support,  the  belief  that  it  was  Tennyson's  own 
conviction  that  "  ourselves  are  full  of  social 
wrong."  70  It  becomes  men  who  are  awake  to 
the  needs  of  the  time  to  think  earnestly 

How  best  to  help  the  slender  store, 
How  mend  the  dwellings  of  the  poor.71 

"Ibid.,  p.  261. 

"Ibid.,  p.  288. 

"'"In  Memoriam,"  CVI,  p.  277. 

70 "The  Princess,"  p.  217. 

"  "  To  the  Rev.  F.  D.  Maurice,"  p.  234. 


n8    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

how  aid  the  one  who  "  writhes  in  a  world  of 
the  weak  trodden  down  by  the  strong  ....  a 
world  all  massacre,  murder  and  wrong." 72 
There  is  still  many  a  son 

who  from  the  wrongs  his  father  did 
Would  shape  himself  a  right.73 

Often  "  the  Higher  wields  the  Lower,  while  the 
Lower  is  the  Higher."  T4  Not  only  is  it  true, 
as  we  have  already  stated,  that  "  city  children 
soak  and  blacken  soul  and  sense  in  city  slime, 
but  also : 

There   among  the  glooming  alleys  Progress  halts  on 

palsied  feet, 
Crime  and  hunger  cast  our  maidens  by  the  thousand  on 

the  street. 
There  the  master  scrimps  his  haggard  sempstress  of 

her  daily  bread, 
There   a   single   sordid   attic  holds   the  living  and  the 

dead. 
There  the  smouldering  fire  of  fever  creeps  across  the 

rotted  floor, 
And  the  crowded  couch  of  incest  in  the  warrens  of  the 

poor.75 

Throughout  "  Maud  "  the  social  evils  are  por- 
trayed in  vivid  colors.  The  hero  in  this  poem 
says   that  the  sins  of  a  nation,   which  he  calls 

72  "  Despair,"  p.  545. 

73  "  Gareth  and  Lynette,"  p.  323. 
74 "  Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  563. 
75  Ibid.,  p.  566. 


SOCIETY  119 

"  civil  war,"  are  deadlier  in  their  effect  than  what 
is  commonly  known  as  war  itself.76  With  such 
conditions  existing  in  the  world,  we  cannot  won- 
der that  some  cry  out  against  the  social  order,  as, 
when  the  crowd  passed  the  palace  in  London  in 
the  days  of  "  Queen  Mary,"  the  third  voice  said : 
"  What  am  I  ?  One  who  cries  continually  with 
sweat  and  tears  to  the  Lord  God  that  it  would 
please  him  out  of  his  infinite  love  to  break  down 
all  kingship  and  queenship,  all  priesthood  and 
prelacy;  to  cancel  and  abolish  all  bonds  of  human 
allegiance,  all  the  magistracy,  all  the  nobles,  and 
all  the  wealthy;  and  to  send  us  again,  according 
to  his  promise,  the  one  King,  the  Christ,  and  all 
things  in  common,  as  in  the  day  of  the  first 
church,  when  Christ  Jesus  was  King.77  Edgar, 
in  "  The  Promise  of  May,"  voices  a  similar  ex- 
treme and  unwarranted  opinion : 

The  storm  is  hard  at  hand,  will  sweep  away 
Thrones,     churches,     ranks,     traditions,     customs, 

marriage 
One  of  the  feeblest.7" 

Harold,  in  the  same  drama,  speaks  thus : 

What  I  that  have  been  call'd  a  Socialist, 

A  Communist,  a  Nihilist  —  what  you  will!  — 


78  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  401. 

77 "  Queen  Man',"  Act  V,   sc.  4,  p.  648. 

TS  P.  783. 


w^ 


120    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Utopian  idiotcies 
They  did  not  last  three  Junes.     Such  rampant  weeds 
Strangle  each  other,  die,  and  make  the  soil 
For  Caesars,  Cromwells,  and  Napoleons, 
To  root  their  power  in.     I  have  freed  myself 
From  all  such  dreams,  and  some  will  say  because 
I  have  inherited  my  Uncle." 

j  The  ruin  wrought  by  false  social  ideals,  espe- 
cially that  which  relates  to  marriage,  is  pictured 
in  the  closing  lines  spoken  by  Dora  in  "  The 
Promise  of  May." so  This  is  most  emphatic 
condemnation  of  the  false  ideals  themselves. 

Tennyson  saw  most  clearly  somber  facts,  yet 

j  his  message  concerning  society  is  not  that  of  the 

pessimist.      In  spite  of  personal  sorrow  and  social 

disorder,  he  says :     "  I  will  not  shut  me  from  my 

kind."  81     He  hears 

A  deeper  voice  across  the  storm 
Proclaiming  social  truth  shall  spread, 
And  justice.82 

These  gloomy  facts  only  impose  upon  the  awak- 
ened and  enlightened  the  greater,  more  solemn 
obligation  to  "  all  live  together  like  brethren."  83 
If  anyone  harms  a  brother-man, 

70  Act  III,  pp.  800,  801. 

80  P.  803. 

81  "In  Memoriam,"  CVIII,  p.  278. 
"Ibid.,  CXXVII,  p.  283. 

83 "  Queen  Mary,"  Act  IV,  sc.  3,  631. 


SOCIETY  121 

Albeit  he  thinks  himself  at  home  with  God, 
Of  this  be  sure,  he  is  whole  worlds  away.84 

These  luminous  words  of  Cranmer  are  the  words 
of  Tennyson.     Addressing  the  rich,  he  says: 

You  that  wanton  in  affluence, 

Spare  not  now  to  be  bountiful, 

Call  your  poor  to  regale  with  you, 

All  the  lowly,  the  destitute. 

Make  their  neighborhood  healthfuller, 

Give  your  gold  to  the  Hospital 

Let  the  weary  be  comforted, 

Let  the  needy  be  banqueted, 

Let  the  maimed  in  his  heart  rejoice.*5 

It  was  the  noble  purpose  of  Akbar 

to  fuse  his  myriads  into  union  under  one, 
To  hunt  the  tiger  of  oppression  out 
From  office.00 

When  in  town,  Tennyson  mingled  with  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men.87  He  appreciated 
their  aspirations  and  their  needs.  The  evidences 
of  social  unrest  were  to  him  solemn  facts  to  be 
diligently  studied  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  wis- 
dom for  future  action.  Once,  when  a  member 
of  a  party  made  a  jocular  remark  about  some 
disorders  apprehended  or  existing  in  the  centers 
of    industry,    Tennyson    solemnly    replied :     "  I 

84  Ibid. 

85 "  On  the  Jubilee  of  Queen  Victoria,"  p.  803. 

M  "  Akbar's  Dream,"  p.  881. 

"Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  183. 


122    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

can't  joke  about  so  grave  a  question."  88  When 
visiting  with  friends,  the  conversation  was  often 
upon  the  social  difficulties  of  the  time.89  He 
read  "  with  great  pleasure  "  an  account  of  the 
German  Ragged  Schools  as  indicating  one  possi- 
ble partial  solution  of  the  social  problem.90  His 
words  are  luminous  with  hope,  for  he  believed 
in  the  presence  and  power  of  the  Christ-spirit  in 
the  world.  He,  like  his  friend  J.  W.  Blakesley, 
saw  that  the  cause  of  the  abuses  of  the  present 
system  is  the  selfish  spirit  which  pervades  the 
whole  frame  of  society.  He  knew  that,  if  the 
effects  are  to  be  banished,  the  cause  must  be  re- 
moved.91 

To  accomplish  so  great  a  work,  the  Christ, 
"  the  strong  Son  of  God,  Immortal  Love,"  alone 
is  sufficient.  What  he  can  do  is  indicated  by 
what  he  has  done.  When  a  friend  once  spoke  of 
Christ  as  an  example  of  failure,  he  replied :  "  Do 
you  call  that  failure  which  has  altered  the  belief 
and  the  social  relations  of  the  whole  world  ?  "  92 
He  saw  this  great  ideal  of  the  Christ  leading  indi- 
viduals and  the  world  on  to  the  conquest  of  the 
selfishness    which    corrupts    and    destroys.     In 

**  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  205. 
"Ibid.,  p.  468. 
80 Ibid.,  p.  512. 
"  Ibid.,  p.     69. 
"Ibid.,  p.  512. 


SOCIETY  123 

"  The  Voyage  "  the  thought  is  put  in  figure,  but 
it  is  his  thought  none  the  less : 

But,  blind  or  lame  or  sick  or  sound, 
We  follow  that  which  flies  before ; 

We  know  the  merry  world  is  round, 
And  we  may  sail  for  evermore."3 

The  spirit  of  the  Christ  flies  before,  and  those 
who  follow  will  leave  behind  the  selfishness 
which  degrades,  and  ever  approach  the  love  which 
exalts  and  purifies  and  frees  the  individual  and 
the  world. 

83  Poems,  p.  118. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SOCIAL   INSTITUTIONS:     THE    STATE,    THE 
CHURCH 

As  society  comes  to  self-consciousness,  certain 
ideas  which  are  held  in  common  by  members  of 
the  social  group  find  expression  in  institutions. 
These  are  of  great  service  in  registering  the 
thought-progress  of  a  people,  and  in  making 
prominent  and  efficient  the  ideas  which  might 
otherwise  lie  buried  in  the  minds  of  men.  Insti- 
tutions are  the  hands  with  which  ideas  do  their 
work.  These  are  the  bodies  of  which  ideas  are 
the  spirit  and  life.  They  deserve  reverence  be- 
cause of  the  work  they  do  and  the  spirit  they 
enshrine.  They  have  no  power  in  themselves. 
They  are  the  channels  through  which  ideas  flow 
to  act  upon  the  world. 

By  their  very  nature  institutions  are  subject  to 
change.  Truth  is  constant  and  unchanging,  but 
the  individual  and  social  apprehension  of  truth 
grows  and  develops.  Falsehoods  are  removed. 
Useless  or  outworn  theories  are  discarded.  An 
institution  can  express  only  that  part  or  phase  of 
truth  which  those  who  create  or  sustain  it  have 
124 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  125 

apprehended.  As  the  ideas  of  people  grow,  the 
form  of  their  expression  must  change.  Likewise, 
as  the  needs  which  an  institution  exists  to  meet 
vary,  there  must  be  a  corresponding  change  in 
that  which  was  created  to  meet  the  needs.  When 
the  idea  or  the  need  entirely  passes  away,  the 
institution  must  decay  or  be  abolished. 

These  great  social  truths  Tennyson  has  ex- 
pressed with  clearness  and  beauty.  "  Morte 
D'Arthur  "  has  the  same  meaning  essentially  as  ,. 
the  "  Passing  of  Arthur."  Arthur,  the  pure  soul 
of  man,  passes,  while  the  Round  Table,  with  its 
knights  and  tournaments  and  quests,  the  institu- 
tions of  men,  decay  and  disappear.  In  these 
great  poems  Bedkere  represents  the  conservative 
spirit  so  in  love  with  the^sword  Excalibur,  a  mere 
instrument  for  the  conquest  of  Arthur's  foes,  that 
it  is  exceedingly  hard  for  him  to  part  with  it 
even  at  the  command  of  the  king.  He  looks 
upon  its  wondrous  beauty,  thinks  of  all  it  has 
wrought  through  the  might  of  the  king,  and  can- 
not bear  to  have  it  lost  to  the  world.  After  two 
fruitless  attempts  to  hurl  it  into  the  sea,  as  Arthur 
commanded,  the  third  time  he  succeeds,  closing 
his  eyes  lest  the  glittering  gems  should  again  con- 
quer his  purpose  to  obey  the  dying  king. 

"  Sea  Dreams  "  is  akin  to  this  in  thought.  The. 
swelling  wave  represents  essential,  absolute  truth. 
Men  in  their  imaginings  have  built  cathedrals 


126    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

with  statues  of  saints  and  martyrs.  The  wave 
swells  and  destroys  these  forms,  threatening  even 
the  most  sacred  images.  Arthur  passes,  but 
comes  again  in  a  higher  and  diviner  form.  In- 
stitutions fail,  and  truth  passes  on  in  other  and 
nobler  creations.  In  general,  he  teaches  that  all 
things  subject  to  physical  evolution  are  subject  to 
destruction  and  decay.  "  De  Profundis  "  is  not- 
able among  other  things,  for  its  expression  of 
this  thought.  This  poem  is  a  significant  com- 
ment upon  "  The  Idylls."  The  Round  Table, 
and  all  institutions  subject  to  physical  evolution. 
are  liable  to  destruction.  The  Arthurs  are  births 
out  of  the  spirit,  and  pass,  to  come  again  in  ever 
higher  and  higher  forms. 

I.       THE    STATE 

One  of  the  great  social  institutions  of  which 
Tennyson  speaks  with  special  interest  and  enthu- 
siasm is  the  state.  He  has  no  new  or  startling 
theory  of  government  to  exploit.  He  does  not 
expressly  declare  his  own  preference  for  any  de- 
tailed system  of  government.  Rather,  as  an 
English  patriot,  he  writes  of  his  own  state,  her 
statesmen,  throne,  empire,  and  political  problems. 
He  may  almost  be  said  to  take  it  for  granted  that 
the  English  government  is  the  best  in  the  world. 
This  would  not  be  exactly  true,  however ;  for  his 
loyalty  to  his  own  land  is  not  unintelligent.     He 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  127 

knows  what  other  governments  are,  and  what 
they  have  accomplished  for  their  people.  He  had 
read  history  with  interest  and  profit.  He  was  a 
careful  observer  of  the  political  movements  of 
his  time.  Yet,  after  all  his  reading  and  study 
and  observation  he  came  back  to  view  his  own  I 
England  with  renewed  satisfaction.  He  boasts  , 
of  England  as  the  land  of  settled  government,  as 
contrasted  with  France,  where 

The  gravest  citizen  seems  to  lose  his  head, 

The  king  is  scared,  the  soldiers  will  not  fight, 

The  little  boys  begin  to  shoot  and  stab, 

A  kingdom  topples  over  with  a  shriek 

Like  an  old  woman,  and  down  rolls  the  world 

In  mock  heroics  stranger  than  our  own ; 

Revolts,  republics,  revolutions,  most 

No  graver  than  a  school  boys'  barring  out; 

Too  comic  for  the  solemn  things  they  are. 

Too  solemn  for  the  comic  touches  in  them.1 

In  the  "  Odeon  the  Death  of  the  Duke  of  Well- 
ington "  these  lines  occur,  referring  to  the  same 
country : 

A  people's  voice !     We  are  a  people  yet, 
Tho'  all  men  else  their  nobler  dreams  forget, 
Confused  by  brainless  mobs  and  lawless  Powers.2 

In  "  The  Third  of  February  "  he  says : 

We  love  not  this  French  God,  the  child  of  Hell, 
Wild  War  who  breaks  the  converse  of  the  wise.* 

1 "  The  Princess,"  p.  217. 

2  Sec.  7,  p.  219. 

3  P.  221. 


128    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

As  one  of  the  "  signs  of  storm  "  he  speaks  of 
"  Art  with  poisonous  honey  stol'n  from  France."  4 
Equally  significant  lines  occur  in  "  Locksley  Hall 
Sixty  Years  After  "  : 

France  had  shown  a  light  to  all  men,  preach'd  a  Gospel, 

All  men's  good; 
Celtic  Demos  rose  a  Demon,  shriek'd  and  slaked  the 

light  with  blood.5 

Paris  was  to  him  "  the  centre  and  crater  of  Euro- 
pean confusion."  6  As  a  young  man  he  spent 
some  time  in  France,  but  never  became  an  en- 
thusiastic admirer  of  the  French  character.  He 
said :  "  I  am  struck  on  returning  from  France 
with  the  look  of  good  sense  in  the  London  peo- 
ple." 7  The  reader  may  draw  his  own  inference 
as  to  the  poet's  opinion  of  the  looks  of  the  Pari- 
sians. Tennyson  quotes  John  Kemble's  phrase. 
"  the  moral  barbarism  of  France,"  as  if  it  were 
worth  repeating  for  the  truth  it  contains,  and  this 
barbarism  was  manifested  in  the  affairs  of  state 
as  perhaps  nowhere  else. 

Emily  Tennyson  was  in  Paris  in  1848,  after 
the  revolution  against  Louis  Philippe  had  begun. 
She  was  shot  at  by  one  of  the  revolutionists,  as 
she  was  looking  out  of  the  window.     The  bullet 

4  "  To  the  Queen,"  p.  475. 
B  P.  562. 

8  "  Beautiful   City,"  p.  835. 
7  Memoir j  Vol.  I,  p.  55. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  129 

missed  her,  but  went  through  the  ceiling.  She 
wrote  home  an  account  of  these  stormy  days,  and 
this  doubtless  strengthened  Tennyson's  aversion 
to  the  fickle  forms  of  government  for  which  the 
French  are  famous.8  He  was  the  voice  of  those 
who  regarded  France  under  Napoleon  as  a  seri- 
ous menace  to  the  peace  of  Europe.  But  in  the 
later  years,  after  the  Franco-German  War,  he 
expressed  great  admiration  for  the  dignified  way 
in  which  France  gradually  recovered  herself. 
The  France  that  was  charmed  only  by  martial 
prowess  he  could  not  praise.  It  was  "  the  wiser 
France  "  he  lauded.  Such  a  nation,  he  believed, 
would  work  with  England  for  the  good  of  the 
world  and  hasten  the  coming  of  the  universal 
brotherhood.9 

This  reference  to  France  and  the  French  gov- 
ernment is  in  place  here  because  of  the  emphasis 
it  gives  to  Tennyson's  opinion  of  what  the  state 
should  not  be.  He  did  not,  could  not,  applaud 
"  phantoms  of  other  forms  of  rule  "  that  were 
"  vague  in  vapour,  hard  to  mark."  10  He  be- 
lieved in 

our  slowly-grown 

And  crown'd  Republic's  crowning  common-sense.11 

8  Ibid.,  pp.  272  f. 

'Ibid.,  pp.  344,  380. 

10 "  Love  Thou  Thy  Land,"'  p.  65. 

11 "  To  the  Queen,"  p.  475. 


130    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

!  He  called  England  a  republic,  a  "  crowned  re- 
j  public,"  and  believed  in  the  saving  common-sense 
of  her  people.  Every  state  may  have  at  times 
weak,  corrupt,  or  inefficient  officials.  Then  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  ruler  to  follow  the  example  of 
Arthur,  who 

Rooted  out  the  slothful  officer 
Or  guilty,  which  for  bribe  had  wink'd  at  wrong, 
And  in  their  chairs  set  up  a  stronger  race 
With  hearts  and  hands,  and  sent  a  thousand  men 
To  till  the  wastes,  and  moving  everywhere 
Cleard  the  dark  places  and  let  in  the  law.12 

The  court  must  be  pure  and  strong,  or  enemies 
will  be  triumphant  and  the  land  will  suffer.  The 
sinful,  conscience-smitten  queen,  fleeing  to  Almes- 
bury  from  the  ruin  she  had  wrought,  says : 

For  now  the  heathen  of  the  Northern  Sea, 
Lured  by  the  crimes  and  frailties  of  the  court, 
Begin  to  slay  the  folk,  and  spoil  the  land.13 

The  great-hearted  king  himself  realized  the  cause 
of  his  downfall  and  cried :  "  My  house  hath 
been  my  doom ; "  though  he  would  not  call 
Modred  the  traitor  of  his  house.14  The  downfall 
of  Queen  Mary  is  in  part  explained  by  these 
words  of  Bagenhall : 

12 "  Geraint  and  Enid,"  pp.  368,  369. 

13  "  Guinevere,"  p.  458. 

14 "  The  Passing  of  Arthur,"  p.  469. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  131 

We  have  no  men  among  us.     The  new  Lords 

Are  quieted  with  their  sop  of  Abbeylands, 

And   ev'n   before   the   Queen's   face    Gardiner   buys 

them 
With  Philip's  gold.     All  greed,  no  faith,  no  courage.15 

Tennyson  never  believed  and  never  taught 

that  lying 
And  ruling  men  are  fatal  twins  that  cannot 
Move  one  without  the  other,16 

but  rather  counseled  honesty,  purity,  and  truth 
in  ruler  and  court.  The  opposite  of  these  are 
among  the  sins  of  a  nation  that  are  deadlier  than 
war.17  The  Idylls  of  the  King  are  the  poet's 
statement  of  the  high  aim  that  every  state  should 
constantly  cherish.  These  poems  show  as  cer- 
tainly that,  when  a  government  fails  to  accom- 
plish that  purpose  which  is  at  the  same  time  po- 
litical and  spiritual,  it  is  not  primarily  because  of 
misfortune,  or  of  some  attack  from  without,  but"- 
because  of  moral  evil  that  overthrows  the  very 
foundations  of  the  state.18  One  of  the  highest 
encomiums  pronounced  upon  the  queen  was  that  1 
"  her  court  was  pure."  19J 

It  is  plain  that  England's  hereditary  monarchy 

15 "  Queen  Mary,"  Act  III,  sc.  1,  p.  605. 

""Harold,"  Act  III,  p.  672. 

17  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  401. 

"Ibid.,  p.  51 1. 

19 "  To  the  Queen,"  p.  1. 


132    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

was  the  "  crowned  republic  "  that  the  poet  com- 
mended. He  does  not  desire  a  change  from  a 
hereditary  to  an  elected  ruler.  He  writes  "  To 
the  Queen  " : 

May  you  rule  us  long, 

And  leave  us  rulers  of  your  blood 

As  noble  till  the  latest  day !  " 

He  sounded  the  alarm  of  Tiresias, 

that  the  tyranny  of  one 
Was  prelude   to  the   tyranny  of   all. 

He  repeated  the  warning, 

that  the  tyranny  of  all 
Led  backward  to  the  tyranny  of  one.21 

In  "  Hands  All  Round"  these  lines  occur,  show- 
ing his  desire  for  a  large-minded  policy  on  the 
part  of  the  houses  of  Parliament,  and  of  the  peo- 
ple who  gave  them  power : 

To  both  our  Houses  may  they  see 
Beyond  the  borough  and  the  shire  ! 

We  sail'd  wherever  ship  could  sail, 
We  founded  many  a  mighty  state; 

Pray  God  our  greatness  may  not  fail, 
Thro'  craven  fears  of  being  great.22 

He  believed  with  all  his  heart  in  the  larger  Eng- 
land.    He  was  careful  to  say  that  wherever  the 

™Loc.   cit. 

a  "  Tiresias,"  p.  539- 

22  P.   575- 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  133 

British  flag  went,  there  were  his  fellow-citizens, 
his  "brethren;"  there  was  an  opportunity  to 
make  men  milder  by  just  government.23 

Wisdom  when  in  power 

And  wisest,  should  not  frown  as  Power,  but  smile 
As  Kindness,  watching  all,  till  the  true  must 
Shall  make  her  strike  as  Power.24 

Traitors  are  rarely  bred 
Save  under  traitor  kings.24 

He  was  ever  the  herald  and  advocate  of  liberty, 
and  this  involved  hatred  of  a  tyrant  king  or  of  a 
tyrant  majority.  Government  is  but  a  channel 
through  which  to  convey  the  people's  wishes.20 

Victoria  was  to  him  the  ideal  sovereign  of 
English  people.  What  he  says  of  her  he  says 
with  a  feeling  of  loyal  affection  and  of  patriotic 
pride.  The  tributes  which  he  paid  to  the  queen 
were  not  the  servile,  mechanical  laudations  of  a 
hired  man  of  the  crown.  They  were  the  sincere 
expressions  of  a  genuine  admirer  and  loyal  sub- 
ject. His  loyalty  was  chivalrous  and  ardent. 
He  believed  that 

She  wrought  her  people  lasting  good ; 
Her  court  was  pure,  her  life  serene ; 
God  gave  her  peace ;  her  land  reposed ; 

23 "  Harold,"  Act  I,  sc.   1,  p.  656. 

24  Ibid. 

25  "  The  Foresters,"  Act  II,  p.  847. 
™  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  ill. 


134    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

A  thousand  claims  to  reverence  closed 
In  her  as  Mother,  Wife,  and  Queen; 
And  statesmen  at  her  council  met 
Who  knew  the  seasons  when  to  take 
Occasion  by  the  hand,  and  make 
The  bounds  of  freedom  wider  yet 
By  shaping  some  august  decree, 
Which  kept  her  throne  unshaken  still, 
Broad-based  upon  her  people's  will, 
And  compass'd  by  the  inviolate  sea.27 

There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  such 
tributes  helped  to  make  steady  the  foundation  of 
the  British  throne.  He  gave  expression  to  the 
loyalty  of  the  common  people,  that  might  other- 
wise have  been  voiceless. 

In  various  other  ways  does  he  portray  his  ideal 
of  the  ruler  of  a  realm.  Arthur,  in  a  sense, 
stands  as  the  model  king,  though  he  failed 
through  the  treachery  and  sin  of  some  whom  he 
had  chosen.  The  true  sovereign  will  be  loved 
by  the  people.  For  Victoria  he  prayed :  "  The 
love  of  all  thy  people  comfort  thee."  28  So  Ar- 
thur was  held  in  honor  and  affection  by  all  the 
knights  of  the  round  table.  Even  Mary  recog- 
nized "  love  as  one  of  the  strongest  bonds  uniting 
ruler  and  people."  29  Elizabeth  likewise  loved 
the  people  and  felt  confident  of  their  love  for 

""To  the  Queen,"  p.  i. 

2S  "  Dedication,"  p.  388. 

29  "  Queen  Mary,"  Act  II,  sc.  2,  p.  598. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  135 

her.30  The  power  which  a  ruler  has  over  those 
whom  he  loves  and  governs  was  thus  expressed 
by  Robin : 

I  believe  their  lives 

No  man  who  truly  loves  and  truly  rules 

His  following,  but  can  keep  his  followers  true.31 

That  such  love  could  be  expressed  Akbar  be- 
lieved. He  declared  that  kings  should  show  a 
warmth  of  love  for  all  they  rule,  and  give  to  them 
equal  law  and  deeds  that  shall  be  a  light  to  men.32 
Arthur,  the  ideal  king,  was  honored  and  loved 
by  the  people  as  well  as  by  his  knights.  He  uni- 
fied all  the  petty  princedoms  and  reigned  over 
them  as  one  realm.33  His  power  was  not  main- 
tained by  the  display  of  riches  or  of  royal  sym- 
bols. 

He  neither  wore  on  helm  or  shield 

The  golden  symbol  of  his  knighthood. 

But  rode  a  simple  knight  among  his  knights, 

And  many  of  these  in  richer  arms  than  he.34 

He  was  not  motived  by  a  selfish  ambition,  but 
showed  that  in  spirit  he  was  worthy  to  rule  over 
a  people  aspiring  to 

10  Ibid.,  Act  V,  sc.  3,  p.  646. 

""The  Foresters,"  Act  II,  sc.  1,  p.  847. 

^"Akbar's  Dream,"  p.  880. 

83 "The  Coming  of  Arthur,"  p.  309. 

M  Ibid. 


136   SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Have  power  on  this  dark  land  to  lighten  it, 
And  power  on  this  dead  world  to  make  it  live.  M 

Gareth  recognized  in  him  a  true  king,  because 
he  won  freedom  for  the  people. 

Who  should  be  king  save  him 
Who  makes  us  free  ?  * 

he  asks.  When  one  who  had  hated  the  king 
came  to  him  for  help  in  her  distress,  Arthur  an- 
swered : 

We  sit  king,  to  help  the  wrong'd 

Thro'  all  our  realm.37 

He  was  never  indifferent  to  the  sufferings  of 
others,  though  he  did  condemn  himself 

As  one  that  let  foul  wrong  stagnate  and  be, 
By  having  look'd  too  much  thro'  alien  eyes, 
And  wrought  too  long  with  delegated  hands, 
Not  used  mine  own.33 

He  felt  the  kingdom  had  a  rightful  claim  upon 
him  and  all  his  possessions.  Even  the  jewels  of 
the  crown  which  he  had  snatched  from  the  tarn 
he  declared  belonged  not  to  the  king,  but  to  the 
kingdom  for  public  use.  Hence  he  decreed  that 
that  there  should  be  once  every  year  a  joust  for 
one  of  these  precious  diamonds.39 

35  hoc.   cit.,  p.   310. 

38  "Gareth  and  Lynette,"  p.  319. 

37  Ibid.,  p.  323. 

38 "  Geraint   and  Enid,"  p.  363. 

M  "  Lancelot  and  Elaine,"  p.  396. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  137 

There  were  some  who  could  not  appreciate 
such  nobleness  as  this.      Guinevere  called  him  "  a  \^ 
moral  child  without  the  craft  to   rule."  40     He 
did  not  leave  his  realm  to  follow  wandering  fires, 
knowing  — 

That  the  king  must  guard 
That  which  he  rules,  and  is  but  as  the  hind 
To  whom  a  space  of  land  is  given  to  plow. 
Who  may  not  wander  from  the  allotted  field 
Before  his  work  be  done ;  but  being  done, 
Let  visions  of  the  night  or  of  the  day 
Come,  as  they  willj  41 

The  ruler  and  his  people  become  really  one 
through  their  loyal  love  the  one  for  the  other,  as 
husband  and  wife  are  one  in  the  bonds  of  wedded 
love.     It  is  Arthur,  the  ideal  king,  who  says : 

The  king  who  fights  his  people,  fights  himself. 

And  they  my  knights,  who  loved  me  once,  the  stroke 

That  strikes  them  dead  is  as  my  death  to  me.42 

Queen  Mary  knew  enough  of  what  should  be  to 
talk  of  loving  her  people  and  being  loved  by 
them.  But  this  love  was  to  her  a  name  rather 
than  a  reality.  She  defied  her  council,  her  peo- 
ple, her  parliament,  in  order  to  carry  out  a  cher- 
ished plan  of  her  own.43 

Freedom  loathes  such  a  lawless  ruler  even  as 

40  Ibid.,  p.  398. 

""The  Holy  Grail,"  p.  433. 

42 "  The  Passing  of  Arthur,"  p.  468. 

43 "  Queen  Mary,"  Act  I,  sc.  5,  p.  588. 


138    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

she  loathes  a  lawless  crowd.44  It  may  be  true 
that 

To  sit  high 

Is  to  be  lied  about,45 

but  it  is  the  duty  of  the  ruler  to  see  that  the  truth 
commends  his  action  toward  his  people.  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror  promised  to  rule  the  domain 
upon  which  he  was  soon  to  enter  according  to  the 
laws  of  the  land,  and  make  the 

ever-jarring  Earldoms  move 
To  music  and  in  order.49 

Henry  II,  who  sought  to  compel  Becket  to  sign 
the  ancient  laws  and  customs  of  the  realm,  was 
a  lawless  king,  who  represented  the  tyrant's 
power  without  a  kingly  love  for  his  subjects.47 
Such  a  despot  cannot  feel  with  the  free.48  These 
abusers  of  royal  power,  as  they  are  portrayed 
in  the  lines  of  Tennyson,  really  add  luster  to  the 
name  of  Arthur,  the  ideal  king,  to  whom  the  poet 
dared  to  compare  Albert,  the  prince  consort,  and 
Victoria,  the  feminine  counterpart  of  the  mighty 
head  of  the  table  round. 

The  noblest  men  methinks  are  bred 
Of  ours,  the  Saxo-Norman  race, 

44 "  Freedom,"  p.   576. 
45 "  Queen  Mary,"  Act  I,  sc.  5,  p.  592. 
40 "  Harold,"  Act  II,  sc.  2,  pp.  670,  692. 
4f "  Becket,"  Act  I,  sc.  3,  p.  704. 
""Riflemen  Form,"  p.  890. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  139 

And  in  the  world  the  noblest  place, 
Madam,  is  yours,  our  queen  and  head.43 

What  has  already  been  said  shows  that  in  gov- 
ernment the  statesman  stands  next  to  the  ruler. 
One  evidence  of  the  wisdom  of  a  monarch  is 
his  choice  of  wise  counselors.  The  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington is  praised  by  the  poet  as  a  statesman  as 
well  as  a  warrior.  He  is  commended  as  mod- 
erate, resolute,  unselfish,  wise,  simple,  rich  in 
saving  common-sense.50  He  was  not  of  the 
number  of  those  who  betray  their  party  secret 
to  the  press.51  Prince  Albert  was  another  noble 
and  able  statesman  who  never  made  "  his  high 
place  the  lawless  perch  of  wing'd  ambitions,  nor 
a  vantage  ground  for  pleasure."  52  He  labored 
for  the  people,  especially  for  the  poor,  and  sum- 
moned war  and  waste  "  to  fruitful  strifes  and 
rivalries  of  peace."  53  The  lines  "  To  the  Duke 
of  Argyll  "  B4  give  a  fairly  complete  picture  of 
what  the  statesman  should  be.  These  declare  in 
poetic  form  what  could  not  be  made  clearer  by  the 
most  prosaic  analysis : 

49  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  "  Dedication ;  "  an  unpublished  version 
of  "  To  the  Queen,"  1851. 
60  Poems,  p.  220. 
61 "  Maud,"  V,  3,  p.  305. 
62 "  Dedication  of  Idylls,"  p.  308. 

83  Ibid. 

84  P.  575- 


140    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 


O  Patriot  Statesman,  be  thou  wise  to  know 
The  limits  of  resistance,  and  the  bounds 
Determining-  concession ;  still  be  bold 
Not  only  to  slight  praise  but  suffer  scorn ; 
And  be  thy  heart  a  fortress  to  maintain 
The  day  against  the  moment,  and  the  year 
Against  the  day;  thy  voice,  a  music  heard 
Thro'  all  the  yells  and  counter  yells  of  feud 
And  faction,  and  thy  will,  a  power  to  make 
This  ever-changing  world  of  circumstance, 
In  changing  chime  with  never-changing  Law. 

Such  a  statesman  will  be  a  "  true  leader  of  the 
land's  desires."  55  He  will  not  "  jeer  and  fleer 
at  men,"  thus  making  enemies  for  himself  and  for 
the  king.56  He  will  take  "  Truth  herself  for 
model,"  57  though  he  be  familiar  with  the  old  say- 
ing: 

That  were  a  man  of  state  nakedly  true, 

Men  would  but  take  him  for  the  craftier  liar."1' 

Such  a  man  will  be  the  confidant  of  the  king, 
for 

State  secrets  should  be  patent  to  the  statesman 

Who  serves  and  loves  his  king.69 

He  once  said  of  Blakesley :  "  He  ought  to  be 
Lord  Chancellor,  for  he  is  a  subtle  and  powerful 

55  "  Hands  All  Round,"  p.  575. 

08 "  Queen  Mary,"  Act  II,  sc.  2,  p.  601. 

57  Ibid.,  Act  III,  sc.  3,  p.  612. 

63 "  Harold,"  Act  III,  sc.   1,  p.  672. 

&* "  Becket,"  Prologue,"  p.  694. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  141 

reasoner,  and  an  honest  man."  60  As  early  as 
1833  he  cursed  "  O'Connell  for  as  double-dyed  a 
rascal  as  ever  was  dipped  in  the  Styx  of  politi- 
cal villainy,"  but  his  son  informs  us  that  he  soft- 
ened this  opinion  when  he  came  to  know  more 
about  the  Irish  statesman.61 

He  believed  that  a  poet,  while  ardently  loving 
his  own  country,  should  write  of  what  is  noble 
and  great  in  the  history  of  all  countries.  His 
utterances  should  be  outspoken,  yet  statesman- 
like and  without  narrow  partisanship.62  As  an 
illustration  of  what  he  conceived  such  an  utter- 
ance should  be,  it  is  worth  while  to  quote  a  few 
lines  from  an  unpublished  poem  of  the  1831-33 
period : 

For  where  is  he,  the  citizen, 
Deep-hearted,  moderate,  firm,  who  sees 
His  path   before  him?     Not  with  these, 
Shadows  of  statesmen,  clever  men ! 

Uncertain  of  ourselves  we  chase 
The  clap  of  hands,  we  jar  like  boys : 
And  in  the  hurry  and  the  noise 
Great  spirits  grow  akin  to  base. 


Ill  fares  a  people  passion-wrought, 
A  land  of  many  days  that  cleaves 


"Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  38. 
11  Ibid.,  p.  101. 
'■-Ibid.,  pp.  209,  210. 


142     SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

In  two  great  halves,  when  each  one  leaves 
The  middle  road  of  sober  thought. 

Not  he  that  breaks  the  dams,  but  he 
That  thro'  the  channels  of  the  state 
Convoys  the  people's  wish,  is  great; 
His  name  is  pure,  his  fame  is  free; 

He  cares,  if  ancient  usage  fade, 
To  shape,  to  settle,  to  repair, 
With  seasonable  changes  fair, 
And  innovation  grade  by  grade : 

Or,  if  the  sense  of  most  require 

A  precedent  of  larger  scope, 

Not  deals  in  threats,  but  works  with  hope, 

And  lights  at  length  on  his  desire, 

Knowing  those  laws  are  just  alone 
That  contemplate  a  mighty  plan, 
The  frame,  the  mind,  the  soul  of  man, 
Like  one  that  cultivates  his  own. 

He  seeing  far  an  end  sublime, 
Contends,  despising  party-rage, 
To  hold  the  Spirit  of  the  Age 
Against  the  Spirit  of  the  Time.63 

One  important  means  by  which  government 
I  seeks  to  accomplish  its  beneficent  purpose  for  so- 
/  ciety  is  law.  This  thought  is  really  related  to 
'   the  poet's  conception  of  evolution.     He  believed 

65  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  pp.  no,  ill. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  143 

that  bodies  develop  in  accordance  with  a  law 
which  is  within  themselves.  This  law  cannot 
be  annihilated  by  human  intelligence,  but  may  be 
concretely  stated  by  one  who  has  gained  a  knowl- 
edge of  its  operations.  It  is  the  part  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  give  ready  obedience  to  that  law  which 
is  within  himself  and  which  may  be  stated  in 
scientific  language.  The  social  body  has  laws 
of  its  own  which  are  within  itself,  and  all  its 
development  takes  place  in  accordance  with  these 
internal  principles.  It  is  the  work  of  the  states- 
man and  the  legislator  to  learn  what  these  laws 
are  and  give  to  them  worthy  expression.  It  is 
the  part  of  the  public  servant  to  demand  obedi- 
ence to  these,  and  the  part  of  the  individual  to 
render  the  obedience  demanded.  Then  the  nor- 
mal, the  practical  idea  of  "  ruling"  is  "by  obey- 
ing nature's  powers."  64  Law  is  universal. 
There  is  and  can  be  no  exception.  "  Nothing  is 
that  errs  from  law."  65  This  is  not  to  be  be- 
wailed as  a  calamity.     It  is  our  wisdom 

To  live  by  law, 

Acting  the  law  we  live  by  without  fear.88 

Anyone  who  has  eyes  to  see  may  see 

The  hollow  orb  of  moving  circumstance 
Roll'd  round  by  one  fix'd  law.67 

84 "  International   Exhibition  Ode,"  p.  223. 

85  "In  Memoriam,"  LXXIII,  p.  265. 

88  "  iEnone,"  p.  42. 

67 "  The  Palace  of  Art,"  p.  48. 


144    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 


than  she  knows : 

All  things  serve  their  time 
Toward  that  great  year  of  equal  mights  and  rights, 
Nor  would  I  fight  with  iron  laws,  in  the  end 
Found  golden.68 

With  man  as  he  is,  it  is  not  sufficient  merely  to 
"  hold  by  the  law  within."  69  That  law  must  have 
external  expression,  and  must  be  obeyed  if  it  is 
to  be  efficient  in  securing  the  development  of  the 
individual  and  of  society.  The  wise  man  will 
discern  the  proper  time  in  which  to  express  that 
inner  principle  in  human  legislation,  "  and  in  its 
season  bring  the  law."  70 

Our  knowledge  of  these  inner  and  external 
laws,  written  in  the  very  constitution  of  man  and 
of  society,  is  of  course  imperfect.  Consequently, 
our  expression  of  them  can  only  be  partial  and 
incomplete.  This  may  lead  either  to  an  overes- 
timate or  an  underestimate  of  law. 

God  is  law,  say  the  wise ;  O  Soul,  and  let  us  rejoice, 
For  if  he  thunder  by  law  the  thunder  is  yet  his  voice. 
Law  is  God,  say  some;  no  God  at  all,  says  the  fool ; 
For  all  we  have  power  to  see  is  a  straight  staff  bent 
in  a  pool.71 

09  "  The  Princess,  p.  187. 

69  "  In  Memoriam,"  XXXIII,  p.  256. 

70  Poems,  p.  65. 

71 "  The  Higher  Pantheism,"  p.  239. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  145 

The  imperfection  of  our  knowledge  of  the  eternal 
laws  which  it  is  the  business  of  the  statesman  to 
discover  and  embody  in  statute  is  not  at  all 
to  be  wondered  at.  Progress,  evolution,  is  the 
method  here  as  everywhere.  As  we  find  errors 
in  the  legislation  of  the  past,  these  can  be  cor- 
rected, and  the  new  truth  discerned  can  be  incor- 
porated into  other  laws.     This  should  teach  us 

Some  reverence  for  the  laws  ourselves  have  made, 
Some  patient  force  to  change  them  when  we  will.72 

When  the  laws  are  broken  with  impunity,  the 
doom  of  the  realm  is  sealed.  The  breaking  of 
the  laws  of  the  Tournament,  without  a  word 
from  the  great  umpire,  proclaimed  the  real  de- 
struction and  decay  of  the  Round  Table.73  A 
lawless  realm  is  a  broken  realm.  There  the 
wrongs  of  the  weak  and  defenseless  go  un- 
avenged.74 If  the  laws  are  cruel,  they  should 
be  changed  until  they  are  just.75  If  to  some 
who  have  suffered  it  seems  that  "  the  lawyer  is 
born  but  to  murder,"  76  that 

often  justice  drowns 
Between  the  law  and  letter  of  the  law," 

72  "  The  Princess,"  p.  216. 

73 "  The  Last  Tournament,"  p.  446. 

" "  Geraint  and  Enid,"  p.  362. 

75"Becket,"  Act  V,  sc.  2,  p.  741. 

78 "  Rizpah,"  p.  503- 

77 "  The  Foresters,"  Act  IV,  sc.  1,  p.  866. 


146   SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

it  is  to  be  remembered  that  these  are  defects  in 
"  the  lawless  science  of  our  law  "  78  and  in  admin- 
istration. These  are  defects  that  may  be  removed 
in  time.  England's  government  already  stands 
for  justice,  not  for  hollow  form.  The  justiciary 
in  "  The  Foresters  "  says: 

If  the  king 

Condemn  us  without  trial,  men  will  call  him 

An  Eastern  tyrant,  not  an  English  king." 

Government  in  England,  the  poet  believes,  stands 
for  justice,  for  "  equal  law  for  all."  80  This  con- 
dition in  the  poet's  land  is  prophetic  of  the  time 
when 

The  common  sense  of  most  shall  hold  a  fretful  realm 

in  Awe, 
And  the  kindly  earth  shall  slumber,  lapt  in  universal 

law.81 

This  conception  of  law  in  government  ex- 
pressly provides  for  changes  that  are  in  the  na- 
ture of  innovations.  He  believed  that  the  new 
in  government  should  be  so  joined  with  the  old 
as  to  make  one  system.  Progress  to  him  did  not  t 
mean  a  break  with  the  past,  but  simply  an  ad-  \ 
Ivance. 


78  "  Aylmer's  Field,"  p.  149. 
78  Act  IV,  sc.  1,  p.  870. 
80"Akbar's  Dream,"  p.  880 
w"Locksley  Hall,"  p.  101. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  147 

So  let  the  change  which  comes  be  free 
To  ingroove  itself  with  that  which  flies, 
And  work,  a  joint  of  state,  that  plies 
Its  office,  moved  with  sympathy. 

Of  many  changes,  aptly  joined, 
Is  bodied  forth  the  second  whole. 
Regard  gradation,  lest  the  soul 
Of  Discord  race  the  rising  wind. 

Tomorrow  yet  would  reap  today, 
As  we  bear  blossom  of  the  dead ; 
Earn  well  the  thrifty  months,  nor  wed 
Raw  Haste,  half  sister  to  Delay.82 

A  similar  expression  of  this  same  opinion  occurs 
in  "  The  Statesman,"  a  part  of  which  has  been 
already  quoted. 

He  cares,  if  ancient  usage  fade, 
To  shape,  to  settle,  to  repair, 
With  seasonable  changes  fair, 
And  innovation  grade  by  grade.83 

Arthur  recognized  that  changes  are  needful  to 
the  progress  of  the  world,  and  said : 

The  old  order  changeth,  yielding  place  to  new, 

And  God  fulfils  himself  in  many  ways, 

Lest  one  good  custom  should  corrupt  the  world." 

The  same  great  truth  is  taught  by  "  Freedom  " : 

82 "  Love  Thou  Thy  Land,"  pp.  65,  66. 

88 Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  in. 

"  "  The  Passing  of  Arthur,"  p.  473. 


148    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Who  yet,  like  Nature,  wouldst  not  mar 
By  changes  all  too  fierce  and  fast 
This  order  of  Her  Human  Star 
This  heritage  of  the  past." 

Innovations  in  government  and  society  are  to  be 
expected  and  desired.  These,  however,  should 
be  vitally  related  to  the  past,  and  should  pre- 
pare the  way  for  a  higher  form  of  individual  and 
associated  life  in  the  future. 

In  every  government  there  are  some  who  stand 
as  advocates  of  innovation,  and  some  who  op- 
pose the  new  and  cling  tenaciously  to  the  old. 
This  has  naturally  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
parties.  Parties  have  been  subdivided  into  fac- 
tions, actuated  by  selfish  motives  and  seeking, 
not  the  good  of  the  state,  but  the  accomplishment 
of  unworthy  ends.  Tennyson  calls  the  members 
of  these  cliques  "  dogs  of  Faction."  86  He  gave 
high  praise  to  Prince  Albert  as  one  "  not  sway- 
ing to  this  faction  or  to  that."  87  Similar  com- 
mendation is  given  to  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  whose 
voice  was 

a  music  heard 

Through  all  the  yells  and  counter  yells  of  feud 

And  faction.88 


P.  576. 

Poems,  p.  66. 

"  Dedication  of  Idylls,"  p.  308. 

"  To  the  Duke  of  Argyll,"  p.  575- 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  149 

Such    factions   are   inevitably   dangerous   to   the 
state,  for  they  seek,  not  the  good  of  the  many, 
but  the  selfish  aggrandizement  of  the  few. 
True  freedom  is  a 

Scorner  of  the  party  cry, 

That  wanders  from  the  public  good.89 

"  Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After  "  contains  one 
line  that  gives  special  emphasis  to  the  danger 
from  this  source: 
Nay,  but  these  would  feel  and  follow  Truth,  if  only 

you  and  you, 
Rivals  of  realm-ruining  party,   when  you   speak  were 

wholly  true.90 

Tennyson  loved  Freedom  for  her  own  sake  and 
was,  "  wed  to  no  faction  in  the  state."  91  More 
than  that,  he  was  of  the  number  of  those  "  who 
loathed  parties  and  sects,"  92  like  the  statesman 
he  describes,  "  despising  party-rage."  93  He  be- 
lieved that,  if  there  were  more  of  a  partiotic  and 
less  of  a  party  spirit  in  the  press,  the  Chartist 
and  socialist  agitation  could  be  more  easily  met; 
so94  he  cries  in  the  unpublished  poem  "Jack 
Tar  "  :  "  the  d — 1  take  the  parties."  95 

69 "  Freedom,"  p.  576. 

90  P.  563. 

n  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  41. 

92  Ibid.,  p.  42. 

"Ibid.,  p.  in. 

84  Ibid.,  p.  185. 

"Ibid.,  P.  437- 


150    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

One  of  the  great  perils  of  factional  agitations 
is  that  these  may  lead  to  the  violence  of  revolt 
or  revolution.  The  history  of  the  French  people 
reveals  the  unfortunate  results  of  such  disturb- 
ances of  the  social  order.  What  has  already  been 
said  concerning  France  is  sufficient  to  show  the 
poet's  attitude  toward  what  is  distinctive  in  the 
government  of  that  country.  He  called  Bona- 
parte "  madman,"  96  and  in  "  Aylmer  s  Field  " 
he  speaks  of  "  that  cursed  France  with  her  egali- 
ties." 97  There  was  a  time  when  there  were 
many  who,  like  Wordsworth,  "  had  golden  hopes 
for  France  and  all  mankind ;  "  98  but  Tennyson 
was  always  suspicious  of  the  permanence  of  a 
progress  attained  by  such  means  as  the  French 
people  employed.     As  early  as  1842  he  asked: 

O  shall  the  braggart  shout, 
For  some  blind  glimpse  of  freedom  work  itself, 
Thro'  madness,  hated  by  the  wise,  to  law, 
System  and  empire  ?  " 

Those  who  had  cherished  the  "  golden  hopes  for 
France  "  were  doomed  to  bitter  disappointment. 
This  was  the  keener  because  of  the  great  promise 
of  light  which  the  earlier  days  had  given : 

86  "  Buonaparte,"  p.  25. 

""P.  146. 

88  Ibid.,  p.  149. 

99 "  Love  and  Duty,"  -  92. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  151 

France  had  shown  a  light  to  all  men,  preach'd  a  Gospel, 

All  men's  good ; 
Celtic   Demos  rose  a  Demon,   shriek'd  and  slaked  the 

light  with  blood.100 

This  brings  chaos,  confusion,  and  disaster,  in 
which  is  "  freedom,  free  to  slay  herself,  and  dy- 
ing while  they  shout  her  name."  101  Liberty  and 
progress  are  not  honored,  they  are  destroyed,  by 
such  defiance  of  the  past  and  of  the  great  laws  of 
social  development.     The  wise  man  will 

maintain 

The  day  against  the  moment,  and  the  year 

Against  the  day,102 

not  "  expecting  all  things  in  an  hour."  103 

When  tyrants  are  in  power,  abuses  are  suf- 
fered, but  such  revolutions  as  France  has  known 
are  likely  only  to  add  new  and  even  greater  ca- 
lamities. In  the  lines  entitled  "  Beautiful 
City,"  he  says: 

Beautiful    city,    the    centre    and    crater   of    European 

confusion, 
O  you  with  your  passionate  shriek  for  the  rights  of  an 

equal  humanity, 
How  often  your  Re-volution  has  proven  but  E-volution 

100"Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  562. 
^'01Ibid.,  p.  563. 

102 "To  the  Duke  of  Argyll,"  p.  575. 
103  "  Freedom,"  X,  p.  576. 


152    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Roll'd   again   back   on   itself   in   the  tides   of  a  civic 
insanity.104 

This  is  one  of  the  poems  corroborative  of  the 
statement  of  the  younger  Tennyson  concerning 
his  illustrious  father :  "  Indeed  from  first  to  last 
he  always  preached  the  onward  progress  of 
Vliberty,  while  steadily  opposed  to  revolutionary 
/llicense."  105  He  and  Hallam  started  for  the  Pyr- 
enees with  money  for  the  insurgent  allies  of  Tor- 
rijos,  a  noble,  accomplished,  truthful  leader,  who 
raised  the  standard  of  revolt  against  the  Inquisi- 
tion and  the  tyranny  of  Ferdinand,  king  of  Spain. 
This  bit  of  practice  was  entirely  in  accord  with- 
his  preaching.  He  hated  tyranny  and  oppres- 
sion ;  he  loved  liberty  and  right.  Liberty  once 
gained,  however,  he  believed  should  be  main- 
tained, and  innovations  should  be  introduced 
"  grade  by  grade." 

II.       THE    CHURCH 

Tennyson  looked  upon  the  church  as  one  of 
J  the  great  institutions  of  organized  society.  He 
studied  it  with  care  and  sympathy,  and  wrote  of 
it  with  wisdom  and  power.  He  believed  that 
the  church  exists  to  meet  a  real  social  need,  and 
that  its  maintenance  is  a  civic  and  patriotic  duty. 
The  fundamental  fact  upon  which  the  church  is 
based,  and  which  makes  it  a  permanent  necessity, 

101  P.  835. 

105  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  42. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  153 

is  "  an  Omnipotent,  Omni-present  and  All-loving 
God,  who  has  revealed  himself  through  the  hu- 
man attribute  of  the  highest  self-sacrificing 
love."  106  In  all  the  affairs  of  life,  "  there  is  a 
hand  that  guides."  107 

Closer  is  He  than  breathing, 
And  nearer  than  hands  and  feet.108 
His  are 

the  hands 
That  reach  through  nature,  moulding  men.109 

In  all  of  the  sufferings  of  the  individual,  in  all 
of  the  bewilderments  of  the  worldl  in  all  of  the 
struggles  of  class  against  class  in  human  society, 
in  all  the  jealousies  and  wars  between  nations, 
the  individual  should  comfort  himself  with  the 
thought :  "  I  have  not  made  the  world,  and  He 
that  made  it  will  guide."  110  There  are  times 
of  darkness  and  of  seeming  failure,  when  even 
the  noble  Arthur  says : 

I  found  Him  in  the  shining  of  the  stars, 
I  marked  Him  in  the  flowering  of  His  fields, 
But  in  His  ways  with  men,  I  find  Him  not.m 

Yet,  in  the  same  breath  he  suggests  an  explana- 
06  Ibid.,  P.  311. 

n  "  The  Princess,"  p.  217. 

'8 "  The  Higher  Pantheism,"  p.  239. 

59 "  In  Memoriam,"  CXXIV,  p.  283. 

10  "  Maud,"  IV,  8,  p.  290. 

11 "  The  Passing  of  Arthur,"  p.  467. 


154   SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

tion  of  this  seeming  absence  of  God  from  "  the 
ways  of  men  "  : 

These  eyes  of  men  are  dense  and  dim, 
And  have  not  power  to  see  it  as  it  is. 

With  unfailing  faith  he  declares,  I  shall 

learn  that  Love  which  is,  and  was 
My  Father  and  my  Brother  and  my  God.112 

Confident  of  this  future  knowledge,  he  says  in 
his  lines  "  On  the  Jubilee  of  Queen  Victoria  " : 

Are  there  thunders  moaning  in  the  distance? 
Are  there  spectres  moving  in  the  darkness? 
Trust,  the  Hand  of  Light,  will  lead  her  people, 
Till  the  thunders  pass,  the  spectres  vanish, 
And  the  Light  is  Victor,  and  the  darkness 
Dawns  into  the  Jubilee  of  the  Ages.113 

If  God  is  in  the  world  as  a  God  of  wisdom 
and  of  love,  guiding  the  affairs  of  men,  and  giv- 
ing to  all  his  two  great  commandments  of  love 
to  God  and  love  to  brother-men,  religion,  or  the 
recognition  of  God  as  an  object  of  worship,  love, 
and  obedience,  is  a  perfectly  natural  phenomenon 
in  human  society.  When  men  have  false  ideas 
of  the  character  of  God  and  of  his  requirements, 
superstitions  and  wrong  systems  of  worship  arise. 
The  search  for  the  Holy  Grail  by  the  Knights  of 
the  Round  Table  degenerated  into  asceticism  and 

112  "  Doubt  and   Prayer,"  p.  891. 

113  Pp.  805,  806. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  155 

a  religion  of  sense.  Arthur  found  service  in 
fields  near  at  hand.  Galahad,  by  purity  and  self- 
sacrifice,  was  able  to  gain  a  sight  of  the  Holy 
Grail.  The  service  rendered  by  Arthur  and  that 
by  Galahad  were  not  essentially  different.  Enoch 
Arden  would  have  died  of  solitude, 

had  not  his  poor  heart 
Spoken  with  That,  which  being  everywhere, ' 
Lets  none   who  speaks  with  Him  seem  all  alone.114 

Edith,  in  "  Aylmer's  Field,"  is  described  as  one, 
Not  sowing  hedgerow  texts  and  passing  by, 
Nor  dealing  goodly  counsel  from  a  height 
That  makes  the  lowest  hate  it,  but  a  voice 
Of  comfort  and  an  open  hand  of  help, 
A  splendid  presence  flattering  the  poor  roofs, 
Revered  as  theirs,  but  kindlier  than  themselves 
To  ailing  wife  or  wailing  infancy 
Or  old  bedridden  palsy."5 

King  Arthur  said  to  his  knights : 

This  chance  of  noble  deeds  will  come  and  go 
Unchallenged,  while  ye  follow  wandering  fires, 
Lost  in  the  quagmire."6 

When  the  Holy  Grail  actually  appeared  upon  a 
beam  of  light, 

Every  knight  beheld  his  fellow's  face, 

As  in  a  glory."7 

114 "  Enoch  Arden,"  p.  134. 
116  P.  145- 

118  "The  Holy  Grail,"  p.  423. 
m  Ibid.,  p.  421. 


156    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

It  is  the  practical  idea  of  religion  which  is  also 
embodied  in  the  words  of  "  The  Village  Wife" : 

But  I   beant  that  sewer  es  the   Lord,   howsiver  they 

praay'd  an'  praay'd, 
Lets  them  inter  'eaven  easy  es  leaves  their  debts  do  be 

paaid.118 

The  poem  "  Despair  "  was  based  upon  the  fol- 
lowing incident,  which  appealed  strongly  to  the 
poet.  Loss  of  faith  in  God  and  immortality 
caused  a  man  and  his  wife,  who  were  utterly 
miserable  in  this  life,  to  resolve  to  end  themselves 
by  drowning.  The  woman  was  drowned,  but  the 
man  was  rescued  by  a  minister  of  the  sect  he  had 
abandoned.  The  poem  expresses  the  despair  of 
a  soul  from  whom  faith  in  God  has  departed. 
Dora,  in  "  The  Promise  of  May,"  quotes  her 
mother  as  saying  that 

a  soul  with  no  religion  — 
Was  without  rudder,  anchor,  compass  —  might  be, 
Blown  everyway  with  every  gust  and  wreck 
On  any  rock.119 

In  the  notes  to  "  Akbar's  Dream  "  120  Tennyson 
speaks  thus  of  the  great  Mogul  Emperor  Akbar : 
"  His  tolerance  of  religions  and  his  abhorrence 
of  religious  persecution  put  our  Tudors  to  shame. 

118  P.  si 6. 

U9Act  III,  p.  8oo. 

120  P.  882. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  157 

He  invented  a  new  eclectic  religion  by  which  he 
hoped  to  unite  all  creeds,  castes  and  peoples; 
and  his  legislation  was  remarkable  for  vigour, 
justice  and  humanity."  Tennyson  exalted  the  re-  i 
ligion  of  tolerance,  of  unselfish  service,  and  of  J 
brotherly  love.  He  spoke  of  the  follies  of  for-/ 
malism  and  ritualism  only  to  ridicule  and  con- 
demn them.  It  was  the  truth  in  religion  that  he 
sought  and  exalted  and  proclaimed.  That  he 
was  a  close  and  careful  student  of  the  Bible,  his 
writings  abundantly  attest.  Yet  he  was  more 
than  this.  He  recognized  that  there  are  great 
and  fundamental  truths  which  underlie  all  re- 
ligions, and  these  he  sought  and  studied  with 
special  interest.  As  a  result  of  all  his  thought 
and  investigations,  he  declared  his  agreement  with 
Maurice  that  "  all  religions  seemed  to  him  to  be 
imperfect  manifestations  of  the  true  Christian- 
ity." 121 

Of  Christianity  he  said :  "  It  is  rugging  at 
my  heart."  122  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  any- 
one in  all  modern  literature  who  has  grasped 
more  firmly  and  expressed  more  clearly  the  con- 
viction that  "  Christianity  is  Christ,"  than  has 
Alfred  Tennyson.  He  believed  in  the  power  of 
the  creed  that  Christ  lived. 

1=1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  431. 
122  Ibid.,  p.  264. 


158     SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

1      And  so  the  word  had  breath,  and  wrought 
With  human  hands  the  creed  of  creeds 
In  loveliness  of  perfect  deeds, 
More  strong  than  all  poetic  thought.123 

Throughout  his  life  he  read  with  unfailing  in- 
terest "  the  teaching  of  Christ,  that  purest  light 
of  God."  124  He  believed  that  the  greatest  and 
best  work  of  the  world  had  been  accomplished 
under  the  inspiration  of  his  life  and  teaching. 
The  nurse  "  In  the  Children's  Hospital  "  says : 

O  how  could  I  serve  in  the  wards,  if  the  hope  of  the 

world  were  a  lie? 
How  could  I  bear  with  the  sights  and  the  loathsome 

smells  of  disease, 
But  that  He  said,  "  ye  do  it  to  me,  when  ye  do  it  to 

these  ?  "  w 

When  Telemachus  flung  himself  into  the  arena 
and  stood  between  the  gladiatorial  swords,  he 
called : 

Forbear,  in  the  great  name  of  him  who  died  for 
men, 

Christ  Jesus ! 12° 

On  one  occasion,  before  referred  to,  when  a 
friend  spoke  of  Christ  as  an  example  of  failure, 
the  poet  replied :  "  Do  you  call  that  failure 
which  has  altered  the  belief  and  the  social  rela- 

123 "  In  Memoriam,"  XXXVI,  p.  257. 

121  Memoir,  Vol.   I,  p.   169. 

125  P.  517. 

12B  "  St.  Telemachus,"  p.  878. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  159 

tions  of  the  whole  world?  "  12T  He  realized  that 
the  true  Christ  is  now  only  very  imperfectly  un- 
derstood, and  his  teaching  and  life  very  imper- 
fectly followed.  He  looked  for  a  more  complete 
knowledge  of  him  and  a  more  perfect  society,  as 
he  becomes  an  increasing  power  in  the  world. 
He  cried  over  and  over  again :  "  Ring  in  the 
Christ  that  is  to  be."  128  One  of  his  purposes  in 
this  line,  he  said,  is  to  herald  the  time  when 
Christianity  without  bigotry  will  triumph,  when 
the  controversies  of  creeds  shall  have  vanished,  { 
and 

Shall  bear  false  witness  each  of  each  no  more 

But  find  their  limits  by  that  larger  light, 

And  overstep  them,  moving  easily 

Thro'  after-ages  in  the  love  of  Truth, 

The  truth  of  Love.129 

This  is  Arthur  come  again  to  earth,  and  wel- 
comed by  all  the  people,  who  cry : 

Come, — 
With  all  good  things,  and  war  shall  be  no  more.130 

Then  he  adds  these  significant  closing  words : 
At  this  a  hundred  bells  began  to  peal, 
That  with  the  sound  I  woke,  and  heard  indeed, 
The  clear  church  bells  ring  in  the  Christmas-morn.131 

27  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  512. 

2R "  In  Memoriam,"  CVI,  p.  278. 

29  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  326. 

30  "  Morte  DArthur,"  p.  72. 

31  Ibid. 


i6o    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Of  the  details  of  church  organization  and  gov- 
ernment the  poet,  of  course,  does  not  treat.  He 
sets  forth  the  character  and  work  of  the  church 
in  poetic  figure,  gives  a  dramatic  presentation  of 
her  conflict  with  the  state,  speaks  plainly  of  the 
abuses  practiced  by  her  representatives  and  by 
institutions  within  her  pale,  and  holds  up  the 
great  ideal  which  the  church  exists  to  realize. 
The  most  significant  and  most  beautiful  picture 
of  the  church  is  that  embodied  in  "  The  Lady  of 
the  Lake  "  : 132 

And  near  him  stood  the  Lady  of  the  Lake, 
Who  knows  a  subtler  magic  than  his  own  — 
Clothed  in  white  samite,  mystic,  wonderful. 
She  gave  the  king  his  huge  cross-hilted  sword, 
Whereby  to  drive  the  heathen  out :  a  mist 
Of  incense  curl'd  about  her,  and  her  face 
Well  nigh  was  hidden  in  the  minster  gloom; 
But  there  was  heard  among  the  holy  hymns, 
A  voice  as  of  the  waters,  for  she  dwells 
Down  in  a  deep ;  calm,  whatsoever  storms 
May  shake  the  world,  and  when  the  surface  rolls, 
Has  power  to  walk  the  waters  like  our  Lord.133 

Though  her  forms  are  ever  changing,  her  great 
arms  are  outstretched  with  a  constancy  and  might 
that   cannot   be   broken.      In    "  Gareth   and    Ly- 

132 "Coming  of  Arthur,"  p.  313. 

133  See   also    Stopford    Brooke,    Tennyson:    His  Art   and 
Relation  to  Modem  Life,  pp.  260,  272. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  161 

nette,"    the   poet    says    further   of   the   Lady   of 

the  Lake : 

All  her  dress 
Wept  from  her  sides  as  water  flowing  away; 
But  like  the  cross  her  great  and  goodly  arms 
Stretch'd  under  all  the  cornice  and  upheld ; 
And  drops  of  water  fell  from  either  hand; 
And  down  from  one  a  sword  was  hung,  from  one 
A  censer,  either  worn  with  wind  and  storm; 
And  o'er  her  breast  floated  the  sacred  fish ; 
....  and  over  all, 
High  on  the  top,  were  those  three  queens,  the  friends 
Of  Arthur,  who  should  help  him  at  his  need.134 

The  different  parts  of  this  picture  have  been  thus 
interpreted  in  their  relation  to  the  church : 

The  sword  is  the  symbol  of  her  justice,  the  censer 
is  the  symbol  of  her  adoration,  and  both  bear  the 
marks  of  time  and  strife.  The  drops  that  fall  from 
her  hands  are  the  water  of  baptism,  and  the  fish  is  the 
ancient  sign  of  the  name  of  Christ.  The  three  queens 
who  sit  up  aloft  are  the  theological  virtues  of  Faith, 
Hope  and  Charity.135 

The  corruptions  and  abuses  of  the  church  are 
portrayed  with  entire  frankness  and  with  dramatic 
power.     He  speaks  of  the  time 

when  the  monk  was  fat, 
And,  issuing  shorn  and  sleek, 
Would  twist  his  girdle  tight,  and  pat 
The  girls  upon  the  cheek.138 

134  P.  321. 

135  H.  Van  Dyke,  The  Poetry  of  Tennyson,  pp.  173,  174. 

136  "  The  Talking  Oak,"  p.  89. 


1 62    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Balin,  after  his  encounter  with  Sir  Garlon,  en- 
tered the  chapel  of  King  Pellam,  "  in  which  he 
scarce  could  spy  the  Christ  for  Saints."  137  In 
"  Sir  John  Oldcastle  "  these  lines  occur : 

The  mitre-sanctioned  harlot  draws  his  clerks 
Into  the  suburb  —  their  hard  celibacy, 
Sworn  to  be  veriest  ice  of  pureness,  molten 
Into  adulterous  living,  or  such  crimes 
As  holy  Paul  —  a  shame  to  speak  of  them 
Among  the  heathen  — 

Sanctuary  granted 
To  bandit,  thief,  assassin  —  yea  to  him 
Who  hacks  his  mother's  throat  —  denied  to  him 
Who  finds  the  Savior  in  his  mother-tongue.139 

In  the  same  vein  he  continues : 

[I]  rail'd  at  all  the  Popes,  that  ever  since 
Sylvester  shed  the  venom  of  world-wealth 
Into  the  church,   had  only  prov'n   themselves 
Poisoners,  murderers.139 

Columbus  laments  that  in  his  great  projects  he 
was  beaten  back  chiefly  by  the  church,140  to  which 
he  had  always  been  true.141  Cardinal  Pole,  in 
the  drama  of  "  Queen  Mary,"  speaks  thus  of  the 
English  church : 

137 "  Balin  and  Balan,"  p.  376. 

138  P.   523. 

139  P.  524. 

140  "  Columbus,"  pp.  525,  526. 
mP.  526, 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  163 

She  seethed  with  such  adulteries,  and  the  lives 
Of  many  among  your  churchmen  were  so  foul 
That  heaven  wept  and  earth  blush'd.142 

Cranmer  inveighs 

Against  the  huge  corruptions  of  the  church, 
Monsters   of   mistradition.143 

The  dying  King  Edward  says  of  priests  and 
churches : 

Your  Priests 
Gross,  wordly,  simoniacal,  unlearned ! 
They  scarce  can  read  their  Psalter;  and  your  churches 
Uncouth,    unhandsome,    while    in   Norman-land, 
God  speaks  thro'  abler  voices,  as  He  dwells 
In  statelier  shrines.144 

Becket  declares : 

This  Almoner  hath  tasted  Henry's  gold, 
The  Cardinals  have  fingered  Henry's  gold, 
And  Rome  is  venal  ev'n  to  rottenness.145 

Henry  speaks  of  the  "  thread-bare-worn  quar- 
rel of  Crown  and  Church." 14G  Walter  Map 
says,  in  graphic  language:  "If  you  boxed  the 
Pope's  ears  with  a  purse,  you  might  stagger  him, 
but    he    would    pocket    the    purse."  147     Robin 

142  Act  III,  sc.  4,  p.  617. 
U3Ibid.,  Act  IV,  sc.  2,  p.  628. 
144  "Harold,"  Act  I,  sc.  1,  p.  654. 
145 "  Becket,"  Act  I,  sc.  3,  p.  707. 

146  Ibid.,  Act  II,  sc.  2,  p.  719. 

147  Ibid.,  p.  723. 


1 64    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

speaks    these    words    of    condemnation    to    the 

Friars : 

one  of  you 
Shamed  a  too  trustful  widow  whom  you  heard 
In  her  confession ;  and  another  worse ! 
An  innocent  maid.148 

In  a  letter  to  his  aunt,  written  in  1832,  the  poet 

expresses   his   fear   of  the   influence   of  the    St. 

Simonists  in  the  church. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  has  much  to  say  of  the 

good  wrought  by  the  church  as  a  whole,  and  by 

individuals  therein.     He  extends  "  To  the  Rev. 

F.  D.  Maurice  "  a  most  hearty  invitation  to  come 

to  his  home,  commending  him  as 
Being  of  that  honest  few, 
Who  give  the  Fiend  himself  his  due, 
Should  eighty  thousand  College  councils, 
Thunder  Anathema,  friend,  at  you."8 

Says  Becket : 
The  people  know  their  church  a  tower  of  strength, 
A  bulwark  against  Throne  and  Baronage.160 
The  Church  is  ever  at  variance  with  the  kings, 
And  ever  at  one  with  the  poor.151 

Perhaps  as  high  commendation  as  the  church 
receives  in  any  single  sentence  is  that  contained 
in  the  emphatic  utterance  of  the  tyrant  Henry : 

148 "  The  Foresters,"  Act  III,  sc.  1,  p.  860. 

149  Poems,  p.  234. 

150 "  Becket,"  Act  I,  sc.  1,  p.  699. 

151  Ibid.,   sc.  4,  p.  713. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  165 

"  I  would  the  church  were  down  in  hell."  152 
Such  words  from  such  a  man  can  be  considered 
only  as  the  highest  eulogy.  In  the  "  Promise  of 
May  "  it  was  a  Sister  of  Mercy,  who  had  just 
come  from  the  deathbed  of  a  pauper,  who  took 
the  unfortunate  Eva  to  her  home  and  cared  for 
her  with  tenderness  and  love.  The  outlaw  Robin 
recognized  the  poor  priests  as  deserving  to  be 
spared  by  his  followers,  "  who  spoiled  the  prior, 
friar,  abbot  and  monk."  153 

The  pessimist  in  "  Maud  "  declares  that 
The  churchmen  fain  would  kill  their  church, 
As  the  churches  have  killed  their  Christ ; 154 

'  but  the  poet  believes  that  the  church  is  being  led 
by  the  "  hand  that  guides  "  to  higher  ideals  and 

/  greater  achievements.  In  "  In  Memoriam  "  it  is 
the  church  bells  upon  which  Tennyson  calls  to 
"  ring  out  the  darkness  of  the  land."  It  was 
"  upon  the  shrine  "  that  Galahad  saw  the  Holy 
Grail  descend.155     The  gleam, 

Touch'd  at  the  golden 
Cross    of  the  churches, 

signifying  that  these  are  called  to,  "  follow  it, 
follow  the  gleam."  156 

152  Ibid.,  Act  V,  sc.  1,  p.  739. 

153 "  The  Foresters,"  Act  III,  sc.  1,  p.  857. 

M  Poems,  p.  305. 

155  "  The  Holy  Grail,"  p.  426. 

1C8 "  Merlin  and  the  Gleam,"  pp.  830,  831. 


166    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Tennyson  not  only  believed  in  the  church  as  an 
institution;  he  believed  specifically  in  the  estab- 
lished church  and  openly  opposed  disestablish- 
ment. In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Bosworth  Smith,  writ- 
ten in  1885,  he  says:  "  With  you,  I  believe  that 
the  disestablishment  and  disendowment  of  the 
church,  would  prelude  the  downfall  of  much  that 
is  greatest  and  best  in  England.  Abuses  there 
are  no  doubt  in  the  church,  as  elsewhere;  but, 
these  are  not  past  remedy.''  157  He  was  in  hearty 
sympathy  with  such  men  as  Maurice  and  Kings- 
ley,  who  were  striving  to  make  thought  more  tol- 
erant, and  to  impress  upon  all  men  the  obliga- 
tions of  brotherhood.  He  favored  changing 
"  the  spirit  of  the  National  Church  by  broaden- 
ing its  borders  and  deepening  its  spirituality," 
and  he  himself  aided  in  bringing  about  this 
change.158 

In  these  days  of  prolonged  and  earnest  dis- 
cussion concerning  dogma  and  creed,  it  would  be 
of  interest  to  know  just  what  Tennyson  would 
have  included  in  a  statement  of  his  own  belief. 
But  he  steadily  refused  to  formulate  his  creed, 
saying  that  people  would  not  understand  him  if 
he  did.  If  he  had  made  the  statement,  we  should 
have  endeavored  to  understand  him.  As  it  is, 
we  must  be  content  with  his   own   declaration 

157  Review  of  Revieivs,  December,  1892,  p.  562. 

158  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  187. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  167 

that  his  poems  express  the  principles  at  the 
j  foundation  01  his  faith.159  The  goal  to  be  sought 
,  is  the  union  of  thought  with  fact.160  He  hoped 
and  believed  that  "  the  cramping  creeds  that  had 
madden'd  the  people  would  vanish  at  last."  161 
He  honored  men  of  the  spirit  of  Akbar,  who 
hated  the  rancor  of  castes  and  creeds,  and  wished 
to  let  men  worship  as  they  will.162  He  knew  ,;■. 
that  all  human  creeds  are  "  lower  than  the  heart's  | 
desire."  163  "  All  the  faiths  of  this  grown  world 
of  ours  "  seemed  to  him  to  be  too  narrow.164 
He  sympathized  with  those  sincere  souls  who,  in 
time  of  change  and  discovery  and  dispute, 

Have  hardly  known  what  to  believe,  or  whether, 
They  should  believe  in  anything;  the  currents 
So  shift  and  change,  they  see  not  how  they  are  borne, 
Nor  whither.165 

He  believed  that  Christ 

wrought, 
With  human  hands  the  creed  of  creeds, 
In   loveliness    of    perfect    deeds.1"8 

The  nobility  and  beauty  of  a  creed  of  deeds  he 

Ibid.,  pp.  308.  309- 
'Poems,  p.  65. 

"  Despair,"  p.  545. 
:  "  Akbar's  Dream,"  p.  879. 
1 "  Faith,"  p.  892. 
1 "  Harold,"  Act  III,  sc.  2,  p.  675. 
! "  Queen  Mary,"  Act  IV,  sc.  3,  p.  634. 
1 "  In  Memoriam,"  XXXVI,  p.  257. 


f 


168    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

was  always  glad  to  portray.  He  did  not  accept 
every  ancient  religious  tradition  himself,  and  did 
not  ask  anyone  else  to  do  this.     He  declared : 

There  lives  more  faith  in  honest  doubt, 
Believe  me,  than  in  half  the  creeds.167 

Such  men  as  Maurice  and  Robertson  believed 
that  "  In  Memoriam  "  made  a  definite  gain  in  the 
work  of  the  reconciliation  of  religious  philosophy 
with  the  progressive  science  of  the  day.  They 
went  farther  than  this  and  declared  that  he  was 
the  one  poet  who  had  really  made  an  effective 
stand  "  on  behalf  of  those  first  principles  which 
underlie  all  creeds,  which  belong  to  our  earliest 
childhood  and  on  which  the  wisest  and  best  have 
rested  through  all  ages;  that  all  is  right;  that 
darkness  shall  be  clear;  that  God  and  Time  are 
the  only  interpreters ;  that  Love  is  King ;  that  the 
Immortal  is  in  us ;  that,  which  is  the  key-note  of 
the  whole,  '  All  is  well,  tho'  Faith  and  Form  be 
sundered  in  the  night  of  fear.'  "  168 

He  believed  in  the  freedom  of  the  will  with 
intensity  of  conviction.  As  a  boy  he  happened 
upon  the  Calvinist  creed.  This  led  him  to  say: 
"  However  unfathomable  the  mystery,  if  one 
cannot  believe  in  the  freedom  of  the  human  will 
as  of  the  Divine,  life  is  hardly  worth  having."  16D 

ieiIbid.,  XCVI,  p.  274 
168  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  298. 
189  Ibid.,  p.  317- 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  169 

He  recognized  the  promise  in  the  work  of  Alex- 
ander Smith,  but  declared  that  he  would  have  to 
learn  a  different  creed  from  that  in  the  line : 
"  Fame,  fame,  thou  are  next  to  God."  "  Next 
to  God,"  he  repeated,  "  '  next  to  the  Devil,'  say  I. 
Fame  might  be  worth  having,  if  it  helped  us  to 
do  good  to  a  single  mortal,  but  what  is  it  ?  Only 
the  pleasure  of  having  one's  self  talked  of  up  and 
down  the  street."  170 

He  contended  for  "  the  larger  faith  "  for  all 
men ;  for  the  right  of  the  individual  to  investigate 
and  think  for  himself,  without  apology  to  his 
neighbor  for  the  conclusions  to  which  the  truth 
led  him.  He  looked  forward  to  the  time  when 
Christianity  without  bigotry  shall  triumph,  and 
when  the  controversies  of  creeds  shall  have  van- 
ished.171 He  believed  that  this  result  would  be 
gained  by  living,  not  in  external  differences,  but 
in  fundamental  unities.  He  agreed  with  Arthur  / 
Hallam  "  that  the  essential  feelings  of  religion 
subsist  in  the  utmost  diversity  of  forms ;  "  that 
"  different  language  does  not  always  imply  dif- 
ferent opinions,  nor  different  opinions  any  dif- 
ference in  real  faith."  172  He  realized  that  every  . 
formal  statement  of  truth  must  of  necessity  be  / 
imperfect,  and  therefore  he  had  great  sympathy 

170  Ibid.,  p.  468. 

171  Ibid.,  p.  326. 
™Ibid.,  p.  3091 


170    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

with  those  who  criticised  such  statements,  pro- 
vided they  did  not  reject  all  spiritual  truth  in  so 
I  doing.  His  advice  was :  "  Cling  to  faith  be- 
yond the  forms  of  faith."  At  the  same  time,  he 
^elt  that  definitions  of  truth  have  great  im- 
portance and  value  for  many  people.  He  cau- 
tioned the  one  who  boasted  that  he  was  free 
from  bondage  to  formal  faith,  to  beware  lest,  in 
a  world  of  so  many  confusions,  he  fail,  "  ev'n  for 
want  of  such  a  type."  In  the  language  of  the 
bishop  of  Ripon: 

To  him,  as  to  so  many,  truth  is  so  infinitely  great  that 
all  we  can  do  with  our  poor  human  utterances  is  to 
try  and  clothe  it  in  such  language  as  will  make  it  clear 
to  ourselves,  and  clear  to  those  to  whom  God  sends 
us  with  a  message,  but  meanwhile,  above  us  and  our 
thoughts  —  above  our  broken  lights  —  God  in  his 
mercy,  God  in  his  Love,  God  in  his  infinite  nature  is 
greater  than   all.173 

Tennyson's  portraits  of  priests,  friars,  abbots, 
monks,  and  clergymen  are  not  such  as  to  inspire 
special  confidence  in  the  efficiency  of  the  church 
I  as  a  social  institution,  when  it  is  remembered 
how  largely  the  work  of  the  church  is  dependent 
upon  these  official  representatives.  In  the  his- 
torical plays,  and  in  poems  portraying  scenes  and 
events  of  historic  interest,  church  officials  and 
the  representatives   of  religious  orders   are  pic- 

173  hoc.  cit.,  pp.  310,  311. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  171 

tured  as  they  actually  were.  The  truth  does  not 
flatter.  But  fact  is  better  than  flattery.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  he  is  true  to  the  time  of 
which  he  is  writing,  and  is  not  attempting  to 
give  his  opinion  of  the  church  of  today.  Here' 
are  some  lines  which  are  typical  of  his  treatment 
of  degenerate  church  officials  and  monastic  or- 
ders :  "  I  am  emptier  than  a  friar's  brains ;  "  m 
"  The  poor  man's  money  goes  to  fat  the  friar."  175 
One  of  Wyatt's  men  in  "Queen  Mary"  says: 
f '  I  know  not  my  letters ;  the  old  priests  taught 
me  nothing."  176  Becket  says,  in  the  drama  bear- 
ing his  name :  "  I  cannot  tell  why  monks  should 
all  be  cowards." 177  Robin  classes  together 
"  these  proud  priests,  and  these  barons,"  as 
"devils  that  make  this  blessed  England  hell."  178 
Priors,  friars,  abbots,  monks,  form  an  unholy 
group  despised  by  Robin  and  his  band, 

For  playing  upside  down  with  Holy  Writ, 
Sell  all  thou  hast  and  give  it  to  the  poor ; 
Take  all  they  have  and  give  it  to  thyself.179 

There  are  other  lines  that  picture  clergymen 
of  a  type  more  familiar  to  the  men  of  today, 

174 "  Sir  John  Oldcastle,"  p.  521. 

mIbid.,  p.  524. 

170  Act  II,  sc.  3,  p.  601. 

377  Act  V,  sc.  2,  p.  746. 

178 "  The  Foresters,"  Act  III,  sc.  1,  p.  857. 

179  Ibid. 


172    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

though  scarcely  more  to  be  admired.     Here  is 

one: 

Half  awake  I  heard, 
The  parson  taking  wide  and  wider  sweeps, 
Now  harping  on  the  church-commissioners, 
Now  hawking  at  Geology  and  schism; 
Until  I  woke  and  found  him  settled  down 
Upon  the  general  decay  of  faith 
Right  thro'  the  world,  at  home  was  little  left, 
And  none  abroad ;  there  was  no  anchor,  none 
To  hold  by.180 

The  conclusion  of  this  poem  contains  another  ref- 
erence to  the  same  parson  : 

At  which  the  Parson,  sent  to  sleep  with  sound, 
And  waked  with  silence,  grunted,  "  Good  !  "  but  we 
Sat  rapt.181 

A  man  who  could  sleep  through  the  reading  of 
such  a  poem  as  "  Morte  D'Arthur "  needs  no 
other  label  to  show  the  kind  of  a  beast  he  is. 

Someone  has  said  that  a  man's  estimate  of 
woman  is  the  measure  of  his  manhood.  The 
"  fat-faced  curate,  Edward  Bull,"  thus  states  his 
opinion  of  woman : 

I  take  it,  God  made  the  woman  for  the  man 
And  for  the  good  and  increase  of  the  world. 
A  pretty  face  is  well,  and  this  is  well, 
To  have  a  dame  indoors,  that  trims  us  up 
And  keeps  us  tight;  but  these  unreal  ways 

190  "  The  Epic,"  p.  67. 
181  P.  72. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  173 

Seem  but  the  theme  of  writers,  and  indeed 
Worn  thread-bare.182 

In  "  Sea  Dreams  "  we  have  a  picture  of  a  clergy- 
man of  still  another  type: 

A  heated  pulpiteer, 

Not  preaching  simple  Christ  to  simple  men, 

Announced  the  coming  doom,  and  fulminated 

Against  the  scarlet  woman  and  her  creed; 

For  sideways  up  he  flung  his  arms,  and  shriek'd 

"  Thus,  thus  with  violence,"  ev'n  as  if  he  held 

The  Apocalyptic  mill  stone,  and  himself 

Were  that  great  Angel ;  "  Thus  with  violence 

Shall  Babylon  be  cast  into  the  sea; 

Then  comes  the  close."  18S 

In  "  Maud  "  we  read  of 

The  snowy-banded,  dilettante, 
Delicate  handed  priest,184 

who  intoned  the  service  in  the  village  church. 
In  "  Despair "  the  man  who  attempted  suicide 
by  drowning,  and  was  saved  by  the  minister  of 
the  sect  he  had  abandoned,  thus  addressed  his 
rescuer : 


I  know  you  of  old  — 


Small  pity  for  those  that  have  ranged  from  the  nar- 
row warmth  of  your  fold 

Where  you  bawl'd  the  dark  side  of  your  faith,  and  a 
God  of  eternal  rage, 

182  "Edwin  Morris,"  p.  83. 

183  P.    156. 
m"Maud,"  VIII,  p.  293. 


174    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

'Till  you  flung  us  back  on  ourselves,  and  the  human 
heart  and  the  Age.185 

Becket  calls  Gilbert  Foliot,  bishop  of  London, 
"  A  worldly  follower  of  the  worldly  strong."  186 
The  church  warden,  who  has  watched  the  meth- 
ods by  which  clergymen  have  been  promoted, 
gives  this  wordly-wise  advice  to  the  curate.  It 
is  significant  as  revealing  the  spirit  of  the  church 
of  the  time : 

But  Parson  'e  will   speak  out,  saw,  now  'e  be  sixty- 
seven, 
He'll  niver  swap  Owlby  an'  Scratby  fur  owt  but  the 

kingdom  o'  Heaven ; 
An'  thou'll  be  'is  Curate  'ere,  but,  if  iver  tha  means  to 

git  'igher, 
Tha  mun  tackle  the  sins  o'  the  Wo'ld,  an'  not  the  faults 

o'  the  Squire. 
An'  I  reckons  tha'll  light  of  a  livin'  somewheers  i'  the 

Wowd  or  the  Fen, 
If  tha  cottons  down  to  thy  betters,  an'  keeaps  thysen  to 

thysen. 
But   niver   not   speak   plaain  out,    if  tha  wants  to  git 

forrards  a  bit, 
But  creeap  along  the  hedge-bottoms,  an'  thou'll  be  a 

Bishop  yit.187 

Leigh  Hunt,  in  a  letter  to  S.  C.  Hall,  has  an 
interesting  comment  upon  the  Tennysons  which 
sheds  light  upon  this  topic.     The  sarcasm  is  only 

186  Poems,  p.   545- 

188 "  Becket,"  Act  I,  sc.  3,  p.  710. 

1ST "  The  Church  Warden  and  the  Curate,"  p.  885. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  175 

the  barb  of  the  arrow  of  truth.  He  says : 
"  Charles  is  not  equal  to  Alfred,  but  still  partakes 
of  the  genuine  faculty.  He  has  a  graceful  lux- 
ury, but  combining  less  of  the  spiritual  with  it, 
which  I  suppose  is  the  reason  why  he  has  become 
a  clergyman."  188 

But  there  is  another,  and  very  different,  type 
of  the  clergyman  given  to  us  in  the  works  of  the 
poet  —  a  broader,  abler,  nobler,  more  self-sacri- 
ficing man,  whose  character  reveals  a  higher  mis- 
sion for  the  church  in  human  society.  In  the 
"  Conclusion  "  of  "  The  May  Queen  "  we  have  a 
reference  to  this  higher  type  of  minister: 

But  still  I  think  it  can't  be  long  before  I  find  release ; 
And  that  good  man,  the  clergyman,  has  told  me  words 

of  peace, 
O  blessings  on  his  kindly  voice  and  on  his  silver  hair ! 
And  blessings  on  his  whole  life  long,  until  he  meet  me 

there  ! 
O  blessings  on  his  kindly  heart  and  on  his  silver  head ! 
A  thousand  times  I  blest  him,  as  he  knelt  beside  my 

bed.189 

The  lines  "  To  J.  M.  K."  portray  a  clergyman 
as  admirable,  but  of  the  more  military  type : 

My  hope  and  heart  is  with  thee  —  thou  wilt  be 
A  latter  Luther,  and  a  soldier  priest 
To  scare  church-harpies  from  the  Master's  feast; 
Our  dusted  velvets  have  much  need  of  thee ; 

188  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.   164. 
18a  P.  52. 


176   SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Thou  art  no  sabbath-drawler  of  old  saws, 
Distill'd  from  some  worm-canker'd  homily, 
But  spurr'd  at  heart  with  fieriest  energy, 
To  embattail  and  to  wall  about  thy  cause 
With  iron-worded  proof,  hating  to  hark 
The  humming  of  the  drowsy  pulpit-drone 
Half  God's  good  sabbath,  while  the  wornout  clerk 
Brow-beats  his  desk  below.     Thou  from  a  throne 
Mounted  in  heaven  will  shoot  into  the  dark 
Arrows  of  lightnings.     I  will  stand  and  mark.190 

Cranmer  in  his  time  of  peril  asked  pity,  not  for 
himself,  but  for  "  the  poor  flock,"  the  women  and 
the  children  who  held  with  him.191  Becket 
fed  the  poor  and  was  loved  by  the  people.192 
Up  to  the  very  last  Becket  defended  his  flock, 
though  ready  to  die  himself. 

Tennyson  showed  by  his  friendships  the  type 
of  minister  which  he  most  honored.  One  of  his 
old  and  highly  esteemed  college  friends  was  Mr. 
Rashdall,  the  clergyman  of  Malvern.  This  man 
was  deeply  loved  by  his  parishioners,  and  was  so 
simple  and  direct  in  his  preaching  that  he  had 
emptied  the  Dissenting  chapels  for  miles  around. 
He  often  held  his  church  services  in  the  fields.193 
Maurice  was  also  an  intimate  friend  of  the  poet, 
and  was  honored  as  an  able,  courageous,  and  thor- 

180  P.  25. 

191 "  Queen   Mary,"   Act  IV,   sc.  2,  p.  629. 

192  "  Becket,"  Act  I,  sc.  4,  p.  714;  also  Act  V,  sc.  2,  p.  741. 

193  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  355. 


SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  177 

oughly  honest  minister  of  the  church.  Tennyson 
considered  him  the  foremost  thinker  among  the 
churchmen  of  the  time,  though  194  the  sermons 
of  Robertson,  of  Brighton,  seemed  to  him  the 
most  spiritual  utterances  coming  from  any  minis- 
ter of  his  day.  It  is  such  men  as  these  that  make 
the  church  a  social  institution  of  real  importance 
in  the  progress  of  the  world. 

M  Ibid.,  p.  430. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

DEMOCRACY   AND   PROGRESS 

By  a  democracy  we  understand  a  government 
in  which  the  supreme  power  is  directly  exercised 
or  controlled  by  the  people  collectively.  A 
democracy  in  name  is  not  necessarily  one  in  fact. 
A  government  called  by  some  other  name  may  be 
a  democracy  in  reality.  What  Tennyson  says  in 
regard  to  the  people  as  a  class  is  of  interest  to 
us  as  indicating  his  views  of  the  policy  of  putting 
supreme  governmental  power  in  their  hands. 
There  are  some  lines  that  would  give  us  reason 
to  infer  that  the  poet  had  not  great  confidence  in 
the  wisdom,  the  ability,  or  the  character  of  the 
masses.  St.  Simeon  Stylites  calls  the  people  who 
take  him  for  a  saint  "  silly  "  and  "  foolish."  1  In 
"The  Vision  of  Sin"  these  lines  occur: 
Welcome,  fellow-citizens, 
Hollow  hearts  and  empty  heads.2 

When  Merlin  the  Wise  compares  the  harlot  to 
the  crowd,  he  gives  his  judgment  of  the  people 
as  well  as  of  the  scarlet  woman : 

*"St.  Simeon  Stylites,"  pp.  87,  88. 
2  P.    122. 

178 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  179 

And  in  this 
Are  harlots  like  the  crowd,  that  if  they  find 
Some  stain  or  blemish  in  a  name  of  note, 
Not  grieving  that  their  greatest  are  so  small, 
Inflate  themselves,  with  some  insane  delight, 
And  judge  all  Nature  from  her  feet  of  clay, 
Without  the  will  to  lift  their  eyes,  and  see 
Her  Godlike  head  crown'd  with  spiritual  fire 
And  touching  other  worlds.     I  am  weary  of  her." 

Tiresias  does  not  express  any  higher  opinion 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  people.     He  says : 
When  the  crowd  would  roar 
For  blood,  for  war,  whose  issue  was  their  doom, 
To  cast  wise  words  among  the  multitude 
Was  flinging  fruit  to  lions. 


I  would  that  I  were  gathered  to  my  rest 
And  mingled  with  the  famous  kings  of  old, 
On  whom  about  their  ocean-islets  flash 
The  faces  of  the  Gods  —  the  wise  man's  word, 
Here  trampled  by  the  populace  underfoot, 
There  crown'd  with  worship.* 

The  same  estimate,  coupled  with  a  strong  state- 
ment of  the  untruthfulness  of  the  multitude  is 
given  in  "  Vastness  "  : 

Lies  upon  this  side,  lies  upon  that  side,  truthless  vio- 
lence mourn'd  by  the  wise, 
Thousands  of  voices  drowning  his  own  in  a  popular 
torrent  of  lies.5 

3 "  Merlin  and  Vivien,"  p.  393. 

4  "Tiresias,"  pp.  539,  540. 

5  P.  812. 


~i8o    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

The  common  people  have  from  the  remotest 
times  been  bearers  of  burdens,  victims  of  tyranny 
and  oppression.     This  truth  of  history  the  poet 
has  not  failed  to  portray.     This  is  the  representa- 
tion in  "  The  Palace  of  Art  "  : 

The  people  here,  a  beast  of  burden  slow, 
Toil'd  onward,  prick'd  with  goads  and  stings.6 

In  "  Locksley  Hall  "  he  used  a  figure  he  gained 
from  reading  Pringle's  Travels,  to  indicate  the 
slow  advance  of  a  suffering  people : 

Slowly  comes  a  hungry  people,  as  a  lion  creeping 
nigher, 

Glares  at  one  that  nods  and  winks  behind  a  slowly- 
dying  fire.7 

Godiva  knew  of  the  burdens  of  the  people  and 
"  loathed  to  see  them  overtaxed." 

But  whatever  may  be  the  theory  concerning 
the  right  of  the  people  to  exercise  power  in  gov- 
ernment, that  power  has  actually  been  exercised 
in  the  past  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  To  the 
poet  the  signs  indicate  an  increase  rather  than  a 
diminution  of  it  in  the  future.  The  speaker  in 
"  Locksley  Hall  "  sees  "  the  standards  of  the 
people  plunging  thro'  the  thunder  storm."  8  This 
observation  of  the  tendency  of  the  time  finds  ex- 

8  P.  46. 

7  P.  101. 

8  P.  101. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  181 

pression  even  in  "  In  Memoriam."     One  asks  the 
mourner : 

Is  this  an  hour 

For  private  sorrow's  barren  song, 
When  more  and  more  the  people  throng 
The  chairs  and  thrones  of  civil  power?" 

The  devoted  Edith  asserts  that  Harold  is  not  to 
be  the  last  English  king  of  England,  but 

First  of  a  line  coming  from  the  people, 
And  chosen  by  the  people.10 

Antonius  speaks  a  good  word  for  the  common 
throng,  when  he  says  to  the  lustful  Synorix : 

I  have  heard  them  say  in  Rome, 
That  your  own  people  cast  you  from  their  bounds, 
For  some  unprincely  violence  to  a  woman, 

As  Rome  did  Tarquin.11 

It  is  undoubtedly  true,  as  has  been  stated  by 
a  careful  student  of  English  social  and  political 
life,  that  many  of  the  "  equality  "  ideas  current  in 
England  came  from  France.  It  may  not  be  ex-' 
actly  agreeable  to  an  Englishman  to  admit  the 
correctness  of  this  statement,  but  any  unpreju- 
diced observer  familiar  with  the  social  history 
of  both  countries  will  find  no  good  reason 
seriously   to  question    it.     The    hopes   that   the 

•XXI,  p.  253. 

10 "Harold,"  Act  V,  sc.  1,  p.  687. 

11  "The  Cup,"  Act  I,  sc.  1,  p.  751. 


182    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

French  patriots,  with  their  motto  of  "  liberty, 
equality,  and  fraternity,"  aroused  in  the  minds  of 
men  were  crushed  to  earth  by  the  horrors  of  the 
Revolution.  But  the  principles  at  the  founda- 
tion of  that  great  struggle  were  thus  brought  to 
the  attention  of  the  world,  and  have  never  since 
been  forgotten.  They  became  effective  in  two 
ways :  first,  by  securing  the  enthusiastic  support 
of  those  who  came  to  believe  in  them  when 
definitely  stated;  and,  second,  by  arousing  the 
determined  opposition  of  the  conservatives  who 
believed  that  such  principles  are  pernicious  and 
tend  to  the  overthrow  of  established  government. 
The  French  struggle  for  liberty  clarified  the  ideas 
of  the  world  by  setting  out  in  bold  relief  the  prin- 
ciples for  which  the  struggle  stood,  and  calling 
for  a  division  of  the  house. 

"  Equality  "  is  a  word  which  has  been  greatly 
misunderstood.  If  it  meant  that  every  man  has 
the  same  intellectual  and  moral  power  as  every 
other  man,  and  should  have  the  same  political 
and  financial  possessions,  it  is  an  absurdity  that 
needs  only  to  be  stated  to  be  recognized.  Yet 
this  is  what  many  foreigners  supposed  the 
"  equality  "  cry  of  France  to  signify.  If  under- 
stood to  mean  equality  of  opportunity,  it  would 
win  more  adherents  and  arouse  less  violent  op- 
position. Tennyson  does  not  dwell  upon  this 
theme.     His  references  to  it  make  it  evident  that 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS 


183 


he  shared  the  common  dread  of  the  proclamation 
of  doctrines  that  had  brought  commotion,  an- 
archy, and  bloodshed  into  Paris.  In  "  Aylmer's 
Field  "  he  speaks  of  "  that  cursed  France  with 
her  egalities."  12  He  has  no  confidence  in  the 
sanity  of  the  "  passionate  shriek  for  the  rights 
of  an  equal  humanity  "  that  had  echoed  again 
and  again  in  the  streets  of  Paris.13  It  was  the 
Princess,  whose  views  of  human  society  were 
greatly  altered  by  her  experiment  with  her  col- 
lege, who  said : 

All  things  serve  their  time 
Toward  that  great  year  of  equal  mights  and  rights." 

Tennyson,  when  speaking  for  himself,  would 
have  described  the  millennial  year  in  different 
terms.  His  own  contempt  for  the  false  idea  of 
equality,  in  which  many  people  trusted,  is  ex- 
pressed perhaps  best  of  all  in  "  Locksley  Hall 
Sixty  Years  After  "  : 

Envy  wears  the  mask  of  Love,  and  laughing  sober  fact 

to  scorn, 
Cries  to  Weakest  as  to  Strongest,  Ye  are  equals,  equal 

born ! 
Equal-born?     O  yes,  if  yonder  hill  be  level  with  the 

flat. 
Charm  us,  Orator,  till  the  Lion  look  no  larger  than 

the  Cat, 

12  P.  146. 

"  "  Beautiful  City,"  p.  835. 

"  "  The  Princess,"  p.  187. 


S 


V 


184    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Till  the  Cat  thro'  that  mirage  of  overheated  language 

loom, 
Larger  than  the  Lion  —  Demos  end  in  working  its  own 

doom.15 

Tennyson  dreaded,  feared  the  control  of  the 
ignorant,  passionate  crowd.  He  believed  that 
the  masses  could  be  captured  by  demagogues  with 
crude  theories  and  wild  schemes.  He  exhorts 
the  patriot  not  to 

Feed  with  crude  imaginings 
The  herd,  wild  hearts  and  feeble  wings 
That  every  sophister  can  lime.16 

He  did  not  want  in  England  the  "  brainless  mobs 
and  lawless  Powers  "  of  France.17  These  meant 
to  him  only  "  brute  control,"  18  and  he  believed 
that  "  the  tyranny  of  all  leads  backward  to  the 
tyranny  of  one."  19  The  freedom  England  had 
gained  might  be  lost  "  thro'  the  tonguesters."  20 
He  adds  ironically : 
You  that  woo  the  voices  —  tell  them  "  old  experience  is 

a  fool " 
Teach  your  flatter'd  kings  that  only  those  who  cannot 

read  can  rule.21 

"P.   563- 

19  P.  65. 

""Wellington   Ode,"  p.  219. 

18  Ibid.,  p.  220. 

"  "  Tiresias,"   p.    539- 

20"Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  564. 

21  Ibid. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  185 

If  the  masses  come  into  power,  they  cannot  be 
relied  upon ;  for  "  the  many  will  feel  no  shame 
to  give  themselves  the  lie." 22  He  was  too 
ardent  a  lover  of  liberty  to  tolerate  with  any  com- 
posure "  that  tyranny  of  a  majority  in  which 
alone  a  material  omnipotence  is  united  with  a 
legal  one."  23 

Yet,  despite  such  lines  as  these  that  have  been 
quoted,  Tennyson  was  a  believer  in  the  true  Wy*  J~ 
democracy,  the  Greek  idea  of  which  is  "  the  pub- 
lic good."  Mr.  Sydney  Webb  affirms  that  in 
America  democracy  means  "  equality,"  while  in 
England  it  means  government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  and  for  the  people.  If  this  distinction 
be  a  real  one,  it  would  be  entirely  correct  to  say 
that  the  poet  believed  in  the  English,  but  not  in 
the  American,  type  of  democracy.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  of  his  willingness  to  give  his  cordial 
support  to  the  English  system.  The  historical 
plays  contain  frequent  reference  to  the  fact  that 
England's  rulers  are  the  actual  choice  of  her  peo- 
ple, and  her  laws  the  expression  of  the  people's 
will.  He  conceived  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  crown 
and  the  statesman  to  see  that  such  conditions  are 
maintained,  and  that  from  time  to  time  such 
changes  are  made  as  are  demanded  by  new  needs 
and  new  ideas.      Whether  democracy  in  America 

22  "The  Cup,"  Act  II,  p.  761. 
23 Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  506. 


■ 


186    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

means  equality  may  be  a  serious  question.  Those 
who  see  it  at  short  range  are  more  inclined  to 
the  opinion  that  it  means  the  tyranny  of  the 
"  machine  "  and  the  "  boss  " ;  but  this  is,  of 
course,  a  perversion  of  the  early  and  true  ideal 
of  the  republic.  Tennyson  expressed  a  sincere 
admiration  for  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Writing  to  Walt  Whitman  in  1887,  he 
said :  "  Truly  the  Mother  Country  .... 
may  feel  that  how  much-soever  the  daughter  owes 
to  her,  she,  the  mother,  has  nevertheless  some- 
thing to  learn  from  the  daughter.  Especially  I 
would  note  the  care  taken  to  guard  a  noble  con- 
stitution from  rash  and  unwise  innovations."  24 
In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Bosworth  Smith,  written  two 
years  earlier,  he  says :  "  As  to  any  vital  changes 
in  our  constitution,  I  could  wish  that  some  of  our 
prominent  politicians  who  look  to  America  as 
their  ideal  might  borrow  from  her  an  equivalent 
to  that  conservatively  restrictive  provision  under 
the  fifth  article  of  her  Constitution.  I  believe 
that  it  would  be  a  great  safeguard  to  our  own  in 
these  days  of  ignorant  and  reckless  theorists."  25 
He  had  confidence  that  the  throne  of  the  queen 
of  whom  he  wrote  would  be  "  unshaken  still," 


1  Review  of  Reviews,  Decercber,  1892,  p.  562. 
'Loc.  cit. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  187 

because  it  was  "  broad-based  upon  her  people's 
will."  26 

With  all  the  perils  of  the  time,  with  all  the 
demagoguery  and  cries  of  revolution,  Tennyson 
still  believed  in  the  "  common  sense  of  most  " 
that  would  "  hold  a  fretful  realm  in  awe." 27 
The  great  problems  may  have  to  look  to  the 
future  for  their  complete  solution,  but  there  will 
come  a  time  when  "  crowds  at  length  will  be 
sane." 28  This  "  crown'd  Republic's  crowning 
common  sense  "  has  "  saved  her  many  times,"  29 
and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  good  sense 
is  in  increasing  rather  than  diminishing.  There 
are  still 

Men  loud  against  all  forms  of  power  — 
Unfurnish'd  brows,  tempestuous  tongues  — 

Expecting  all  things  in  an  hour  — 
Brass  mouths  and  iron  lungs; 

but  there  is  still  the  vision 

Of  Knowledge  fusing  class  with  class, 

Of  civic  Hate  no  more  to  be, 
Of  Love  to  leaven  all  the  mass, 

Till  every  soul  be  free.30 


28  "To  the  Queen,"  p.   1. 

27  "  Locksley  Hall,"  p.  101. 

28  "  Wellington  Ode,"  p.  220. 

29  "To  the  Queen,"  p.  475. 
80  "  Freedom,"  p.  576. 


188    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

The  social  conditions  desired  by  the  wise  can- 
not be  brought  about  in  an  hour.  Political  power 
is  coming  more  and  more  into  the  possession  of 
the  people,  but  this  power  must  not  be  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  ignorant  and  the  passionate. 
Those  who  are  to  bear  responsibilities  must  be 
trained  to  bear  them  well,  for  the  "  public  good  " 
according  to  the  old  Greek  idea.  There  must  be 
some  sort  of  "  universal  culture  for  the  crowd."  31 
Tennyson's  interest  in  the  poor  and  humble 
gives  to  many  of  his  poems,  and  those  among  the 
best  he  ever  wrote,  a  genuinely  democratic  flavor. 
•  He  was  always  in  sympathy  with  the  cause  of 
liberal  reform.  His  only  vote  in  the  House  of 
Lords  was  given  in  favor  of  the  enfranchisement 
of  the  agricultural  laborer;32  but  this  was  be- 
cause he  believed  that  the  agricultural  laborer  was 
prepared  for  the  ballot.  He  said  that  the  two" 
great  social  questions  impending  in  England  were 
"  the  housing  and  education  of  the  poor  man  be- 
fore making  him  our  master,  and  the  higher  edu- 
cation of  women."  33  Those  who  were  prepared 
to  serve  the  public  weal  he  wanted  to  see  sharers; 
in  the  government ;  but  no  one  should  be  asked  or 
permitted  to  bear  such  responsibilities  who  was 
unfit  to  bear  them  for  the  good  of  all.     This  was\ 

S1 "  The  Princess,"  p.  167. 

32  Review  of  Reviews,  December,  1892,  p.  562. 

**  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  2^9. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  189 

to  him  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  true 
democracy  for  which  he  stood  and  which  he 
preached  to  others.  Thus,  ruler  and  people  could 
work  together  for  the  highest  ends  — "  one  for  all 
and  all  for  one,  one  soul."  34 

It  is  evident,  from  words  already  quoted,  that 
Tennyson  considered  the  two  great  social  ques- 
tions in  England  largely  questions  of  education. 
The  great  need  of  educaton  among  the  poor,  and 
especially  among  women,  is  shown  often  in  the 
poems,  though  he  does  not  lose  sight  of  the 
general  truth  implied  in  the  words  of  Balin,  as 
he  looked  upon  Lancelot : 

These  be  gifts, 
Born  with  the  blood,  not  learnable,  divine, 
Beyond  my  reach.35 

The  contemptuous  comments  of  "  The  Village 
Wife  "  upon  the  actions  of  the  Squire  who  wrote 
a  "  book  himself,"  and  gave  a  big  price  for  "  an 
owd  scatted  stoan,"  and  prized  a  brown  pot  and 
a  bone  which  he  dug  out  of  the  earth,  and  bought 
old  coins  that  could  not  be  passed  with  the 
queen's  gold,  and  "  bowt  little  statutes  all-naakt 
an'  which  was  a  shaame  to  be  seen,"  and  "  niver 
knowd  nowt  but  boooks,  an'  boooks,  as  thou 
knaws,  beant  nowt ;  "  such  comments  as  these  re- 
veal intellectual  needs  that  are  appealing  as  well 

""Harold,"  Act  II,  sc.  3,  P-  681. 
55 "  Balin  and   Balan,"  p.  372. 


190    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

as  ludicrous.  In  the  household  of  the  squire  "  the 
lasses  "  tore  the  leaves  out  of  the  middle  of  valu- 
able books  to  kindle  the  fire.36  One  of  Wyatt's 
men  declared  that  he  didn't  know  his  letters,  "  be- 
cause the  old  priests  had  taught  him  nothing."  37 
Farmer  Steer  admitted  that  he  had  no  time  to 
make  himself  "  a  scholard  "  while  he  was  making 
himself  a  gentleman.  Allen,  the  farm  laborer, 
says  that  he  "  were  born  afoor  schoolintime."  38 
Attempts  have  always  been  made  to  meet  in 
some  way  such  needs  as  these.  The  methods  em- 
ployed did  not  always  commend  themselves  to 
the  judgment  of  the  poet.  His  criticisms  upon 
educators,  upon  schools,  upon  the  studies  pur- 
sued and  the  methods  of  teaching,  enable  us  to 
judge  of  the  educational  ideal  which  seemed  to 
him  most  worthy  of  being  cherished.  In  "  The 
Princess  "  one 

Discussed  his  tutor,  rough  to  common  men, 
But  honeying  at  the  whisper  of  a  lord ; 
And  one  the  Master  as  a  rogue  in  grain 
Veneer'd  with  sanctimonious  theory.38 

These  species  are  not  extinct,  and  Tennyson  had 
for  them  the  same  contempt  which  every  true 
man  has  today.     In  the  same  poem  we  have  at 

G9R  515. 

""Queen  Mary,"  Act  II,  sc.  3,  p.  601. 

68 "  The  Promise  of  May,"  Act  I,  p.  782 ;  Act  III,  p.  795- 

88  P.  167. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  191 

least  a  partial  description  of  the  course  of  study- 
in  the  "  University  for  maidens."  Here  is  a 
narrative  of  a  half-day  spent  in  "  stately  theatres 
bench'd  crescent-wise  " : 

in  each  we  sat,  we  heard, 
The  grave  Professor.     On  the  lecture  slate 
The  circle  rounded  under  female  hands 
With  flawless  demonstration;  followed  then 
A  classic  lecture  rich  in  sentiment, 
With  scraps  of  thundrous  Epic  lilted  out 
By  violet  hooded  Doctors,  elegies 
And  quoted  odes  and  jewels  five  words  long 
That  on  the  stretch'd  fore-finger  of  all  Time 
Sparkle  for  ever;  then  we  dipt  in  all 
That  treats  of  whatsoever  is,  the  state, 
The  total  chronicles  of  man,  the  mind, 
The  morals,  something  of  the  frame,  the  rock, 
The  star,  the  bird,  the  fish,  the  shell,  the  flower, 
Electric  chemic  laws,  and  all  the  rest, 
And  whatsoever  can  be  taught  and  known.40 

Tennyson  revisited  Cambridge,  where  he  and 
Arthur  Hallam  had  been  companions,  and  went 
to  the  room  "  where,"  he  says. 

Once  we  held  debate,  a  band 
Of  youthful  friends,  on  mind  and  art 
And  labour  and  the  changing  mart, 
And  all  the  frame  work  of  the  land." 

In  a  letter  to  his  aunt,  written  early  in  his  col- 
lege days,  he  does  not  speak  with  great  enthu- 

t0Ibid.,  pp.  178,  179. 

41 "  In  Memoriam,"  LXXXVII,  p.  270. 


192    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

siasm  of  his  university  life.  He  says :  "  I  know- 
not  how  it  is,  but  I  feel  isolated  here,  in  the 
midst  of  society.  The  country  is  so  disgustingly 
level,  the  revelry  of  the  place  so  monotonous,  the 
studies  of  the  University  so  uninteresting,  so 
much  matter  of  fact.  None  but  dry-headed,  cal- 
culating, angular  little  gentlemen  can  take  much 
delight  in  them."  42  This  was  his  candid  opinion 
of  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  Cambridge 
of  his  day.  The  course  of  study  seemed  to  him 
narrow  and  dry.  He  was  impatient  with  the 
lethargy  there,  with  the  lack  of  any  "  teaching 
that  grappled  with  the  ideas  of  the  age,  and 
stimulated  and  guided  thought  on  the  subjects 
of  deepest  human  interest."  These  lines,  descrip- 
tive of  the  Cambridge  of  1830,  have  been  pub- 
lished in  the  Memoir  by  his  son : 

Therefore,  your  Halls,  your  ancient  Colleges, 
Your  portals  statued  with  old  kings  and  queens, 
Your  gardens,  myriad-volumed  libraries, 
Wax-lighted  chapels,  and  rich  carven  screens, 
Your  doctors,  and  your  proctors,  and  your  deans, 
Shall  not  avail  you,  when  the  Day  beam  sports, 
New  risen  o'er  awaken'd  Albion.     No ! 
Nor  yet  your  solemn  organ  pipes  that  blow 
Melodious  thunders  thro'  your  vacant  courts 
At  noon  and  eve.  because  your  manner  sorts 
Not  with  this  age  wherefrom  ye  stand  apart, 
Because  the  lips  of  little  children  preach 

°  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  34. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  193 

Against  you,  you  that  do  profess  to  teach 
And  teach  us  nothing,  feeding  not  the  heart.43 

Cambridge  changed  with  the  years,  and  he 
afterward  regretted  such  bitter  words  as  these. 
When  the  university  adapted  itself  to  modern 
requirements,  he  honored  it  as  much  as  before 
he  had  condemned  it.  He  went  back  to  Cam- 
bridge in  1872.  What  impressed  him  most  at 
that  time  was  the  change  for  the  better  in 
the  relations  between  don  and  undergraduate. 
Speaking  to  Dr.  Butler  of  the  time  when  he  was 
a  student  at  the  great  university  (1828-31),  he 
said :  "  There  was  a  want  of  love  jn  Cambridge 
then."  In  1872,  however,  he  found  teacher  and 
student  on  terms  of  personal  friendship  and  ever  « 
ready  for  an  interchange  of  ideas.  This  change  j 
he  believed  would  have  the  most  helpful  influence 
on  the  opinions,  sympathies,  and  aspirations  of 
generations  to  come.  In  this  view  he  is  entirely 
at  one  with  some  of  the  comparatively  recent  ut- 
terances of  prominent  educators  in  America. 
The  change  has  begun  to  be  made  in  some  of  the 
great  educational  institutions  of  this  land.  It  is 
one  of  the  hopeful  signs,  and  the  cloud  of  prom- 
ise is  already  larger  than  a  man's  hand. 

The  institutions  for  the  higher  education  of 
women  should  say  to  those  to  be  benefited  by 

"Ibid.,  pp.  66,  67. 


194    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

their  opportunities  what  the  Princess  said  to  her 
maidens : 

Work  out  your  freedom,  Girls, 

Knowledge  is  now  no  more  a  fountain  seal'd.*4 

The  various  characters  in  the  poem  give  many 
different  views  upon  the  higher  education  of 
women.  In  the  end,  the  Princess,  whom  Tenny- 
son considered  one  of  the  noblest  among  his 
women,  comes  to  a  sane  and  sensible  conclusion, 
and  recognizes  the  relation  she  holds  to  her  Crea- 
tor and  to  society. 

The  Jrjonical   lines   in   "  Locksley  Hall   Sixty 
Years  After," 

Feed  the  budding  rose  of  boyhood,  with  the  drainage 
of  your  sewer: 

Set  the  maiden  fancies  wallowing  in  the  troughs  of 
Zolaism, 

|  express  the  poet's  detestation  of  the  impure  in 
literature  and  life,  and  his  fear  of  its  influence 
upon  the  young.45  By  his  words  and  example, 
Tennyson  urged  men  to  banish  such  influences  by 
the  substitution  of  those  of  opposite  character. 
His  own  school  days  at  Louth  were  not  happy. 
He  was  at  the  mercy  of  "  a  tempestuous,  flogging 
master  of  the  old  stamp,"  and  was  brutally  cuffed 
by  a  big  lad  because  he  was  a  new  boy.     In  later 

""The  Princess,"  p.  174. 
•P.  564. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  195 

years  he  said :  "  How  I  did  hate  that  school ! 
The  only  good  I  ever  got  from  it  was  the  mem- 
ory of  the  words  '  sonus  desilientis  aquae  '  and 
of  an  old  wall  covered  with  wild  weeds  opposite 
the  school  window."  46  Professor  Hale  gives  an 
interesting  account  of  Louth  School,  and  the 
reader  of  it  cannot  wonder  at  Tennyson's  hatred 
of  this  Educational  Gehenna.47 

Tennyson  was  devoted  to  his  own  children,  and 
made  them  his  companions  after  the  most  civil- 
ized and  Christian  ideals  of  modern  times.  He 
raced  with  them  up  hill  and  down  dale,  read  to 
them,  played  football  or  built  castles  with  them, 
and  taught  them  to  shoot  with  bow  and  arrow, 
or  went  flower-hunting  with  them.  If  it  was 
stormy,  he  would  build  cities  of  brick  for  the 
children,  play  battledore  and  shuttlecock,  blow 
bubbles  with  them,  help  them  to  act  charades  or 
scenes  from  some  well-known  play.  In  the  au- 
tumn he  would  work  with  them,  brushing  up 
leaves,  making  new  glades  through  the  shrubs,  or 
reshingling  old  paths.  His  chief  anxiety  was  ' 
that  his  children  should  be  truthful.  He  im-  / 
pressed  this  lesson  upon  them  so  that  they  never 
forgot  it.  Children  thus  trained  in  the  home 
certainly  ought  to  be  well  prepared  to  take  their 

"Memoir,  Vol.  I,  pp.  6,  7. 
"Ibid.,  p.  407,  Appendix. 


196    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TEXXYSOX 

places  as  intelligent,  working  members  of  human 
society. 

Unfortunately,  all  children  are  not  thus  pre- 
pared for  their  work  in  the  world,  and  this  de- 
ficiency in  education  must  be  made  good  in  later 
years,  so  far  as  possible,  if  the  highest  interests 
of  society  are  to  be  subserved.  To  meet  this 
need,  in  part  at  least,  the  university-extension 
movement  was  called  into  existence.  Tennyson 
early  appreciated  the  importance  of  this  work  and 
gave  to  it  his  hearty  approval.  He  believed  that 
there  was  very  great  social  significance  in  so 
practical  a  plan  devised  to  give  to  those  outside 
the  favored  classes  the  advantages  of  the  higher 
education  and  culture.  Upon  it  he  built  large 
hopes  for  the  future  of  the  people.48 

When  the  Chartist  and  socialist  agitations  as- 
sumed alarming  intensity  and  proportions,  many 
advocated  imprisonment  and  violent  repression 
for  their  participants.  The  poet  discountenanced 
all  such  threatened  punitive  measures,  and  urged 
instead  a  more  widespread  national  education, 
as  the  real  remedy  for  social  disorders.  He 
hoped  especially  that  the  Bible  would  be  read  and 
studied  by  all  classes  of  people,  and  expounded 
simply  by  their  teachers.  He  declared  that  "  the 
Bible  ought  to  be  read,  were  it  only  for  the  sake 
of  the  grand  English  in  which  it  is  written,  an 

"Memoir,  Vol.  I.  p.  68. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  197 

education  in  itself."  49  At  the  same  time,  he  be/ 
lieved  that  the  education  of  every  boy  should  pre^ 
pare  him  to  defend  his  country  in  time  of  na- 
tional peril.  To  Colonel  Richards,  who  was 
prominent  in  the  formation  of  vounteer  rifle  corps 
in  1859,  he  wrote:  "I  hope  that  you  will  not 
cease  from  your  labors  until  it  is  the  law  of  the 
land  that  every  male  child  in  it  shall  be  trained 
to  the  use  of  arms."  50  This  was  in  his  judgment 
the  best  way  to  maintain  peace.  He  believed 
that  every  child  should  be  trained  to  save  the 
state  in  time  of  danger,  as  well  as  to  minister  to 
its  highest  progress  in  time  of  peace.  An  edu- 
cation which  does  not  reach  'all  of  the  people,  to 
develop  the  resources  of  individuals,  and  educate 
them  for  their  places  in  the  social  body,  was  to 
him  a  defective  system.  He  desired  a  democracy 
made  up  of  persons  whose  powers  are  developed^ 
by  education,  and  who  are  trained  to  serve  their 
fellow-men  and  the  state  by  the  arts  of  peace, 
and  to  defend  the  nation  in  time  of  war.  A 
democracy  of  demagoguery  and  artificial  equality  S 
was  to  him  a  menace  and  an  abhorrence. 

True  education  does  not  consist  merely  in  ac- 
quiring or  imparting  knowledge.     It  is  bringing  ' 
all  the  powers  of  the  individual  to  normal  de- 
velopment  for  their  work   in  the  world.     The 

"Ibid.,  P.  308. 
"Ibid,,  p.  436. 


198    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

progress  of  the  individual  and  of  the  race  is, 
however,  largely  impeded  by  ignorance.  There- 
fore knowledge  has  a  distinct  social  mission  to 
fulfil.  A  part  of  the  work  of  him  who  loves  his 
land  is  to  "  make  knowledge  circle  with  the 
winds."  51     Doing  this,  he  may  be 

Certain,  if  knowledge  bring  the  sword, 


u 


That  knowledge  takes  the  sword  away.52/ 

This  principle  is  illustrated  by  the  schoolboy  who 
is  cruel  "  ere  he  grow  to  pity  —  more  from  igno- 
rance than  will."  53  When  his  ignorance  is  ban- 
ished, his  cruelty  is  done  away.  Wherever  in 
life  that  which  knows  not  rules  that  which  knows, 
it  is  to  its  own  harm.54  All  classes  need  knowl- 
edge. When  they  gain  it,  they  will  be  fused  into 
one  great  brotherhood ;  for  it  is  ignorance  that 
divides  class  from  class.55 

Knowledge  can  certainly  do  much  for  the 
world.  It  not  only  does  away  with  the  tyranny 
of  ignorance  and  fuses  class  with  class;  it  does 
much  to  make  men  free.56  Yet  at  present  it  is 
very  imperfect.     A  thousand  things  are  hidden 

01 "  Love  Thou  Thy  Land,"  p.  65. 

62  P.  66. 

""Walking  to  the  Mail,"  p.  82. 

M  "  To  the  Queen,"  p.  475. 

55  "  Freedom,"  p.   576. 

58  "  The  Princess,"  p.  202. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  199 

for  a  hundred  that  are  known.57  One  of  the 
grave  dangers  of  the  time  is  a  too  great  depend- 
ence upon  knowledge.  There  is  much  that  it 
cannot  do.  It  is  at  best  only  one  of  three  forces 
that  must  always  work  together: 

Beauty,  Good  and  Knowledge  are  three  sisters,    \ 
That  never  can  be  sundered  without  tears.58 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  knowledge  is 
"  all  in  all."  59  Of  one  who  held  to  that  opinion 
it  is  written : 

Something  wild  within  her  breast, 
A  greater  than  all  knowledge  beat  her  down.*0 

Knowledge  may  claim  too  high  a  rank : 

Let  her  know  her  place; 

She  is  second,  not  the  first.*1 

Vivien  the  harlot  conquered  Merlin  the  sage.62 
"  The  Ancient  Sage  "  declares, 

Knowledge  is  the  swallow  on  the  lake, 
That  sees  and  stirs  the  surface-shadow  there 
But  never  yet  hath  dipt  into  the  abysm.63 


' "  Mechanophilus,"   p.   890. 
'Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  119. 
'"The  Princess,"  p.    171. 
'Ibid.,  p.  213. 

L "  In  Memoriam,"  CXIV,  p.  280. 
1 "  Merlin  and  Vivien,"  p.  395. 
'Poems,  p.  548. 


200     SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

This  is  the  partial  and  imperfect  knowledge  that 
we  possess. 

It  leads  to  something  higher  and  better, 
Utter  knowledge  is  but  utter  love.61 

As  it  points  to  that  which  is  higher  and  leads  the 
way,  it  fulfils  its  most  exalted  mission.  This  is 
the  estimate  put  upon  knowledge  in  the  education 
of  the  individual  and  the  race  by  one  whom 
Thackeray  pronounced  the  wisest  man  he  knew.65 
F  Science  is  one  of  the  special  departments  of 
knowledge  in  which  Tennyson  was  most  deeply 
interested.  He  gloried  in  its  achievements,  and 
.'  at  the  same  time  recognized  its  limitations.  The 
surgeon  in  "  The  Children's  Hospital  "  "  was  hap- 
pier using  the  knife  than  in  trying  to  save  the 
limb,"  66  and  was  heard  to  mutter:  "  The  good 
Lord  Jesus  has  had  his  day." 67  In  "  Queen 
Mary  "  he  refers  to  the  time  when  the  "  letting  of 
the  blood  "  was  a  common  method  of  treatment 
employed  by  physicians.68  He  does  not  regard 
science  as  infallible,  as  do  many  who  delight  in 
juggling  with  pretentious  terms.  He  reserves 
the  right  to  refuse  to  accept  the  dicta  of  science, 
if  in  his  judgment  they  are  not  true.     He  says: 

84  "The   Ring."  p.  814. 

"5  Memoir,  Vol.   I,  p.  419. 

66 "  In  the  Children's  Hospital,"  p.  517. 

67  Ibid. 

68  Act  III,  sc.  2,  p.  609. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS 

Not  only  cunning  casts  in  clay 
Let  science  prove  we  are,  and  then 
What  matters  Science  unto  men, 
At  least  to  me?     I  would  not  stay." 

Akbar,  quoting  the  hymn  to  heaven,  sings  : 

All  the  tracks 
Of  Science  making  toward  thy  perfectness 
Are  blinding  desert  sand ;  we  scarce  can  spell 
The  Alif  of  Thine  Alphabet  of  Love.70 

Yet  true  science  has  lofty  ideals  which  it  is  con- 
stantly approaching.     Now  we  are  at  a  time 

When  Science  reaches  forth  her  arms 
To  feel  from  world  to  world,  and  charms 
Her  secret  from  the  latest  moon  ? 71 

There  is  no  real  ground  for  discouragement  in 
the  fact  that  "  science  moves  but  slowly,  slowly, 
creeping  on  from  point  to  point."  72  The  prog- 
ress made  by  science  has  been  real  progress.  In 
the  year  of  the  queen's  jubilee,  1887,  he  and  the 
English  people  could  look  back  upon  "  fifty  years 
of  ever-brightening  Science."  73 

These  lines  in  the  poems  are  passing  glimpses 
of  the  life  of  Tennyson  himself.  He  counted 
among   his    most   valued    friends   such    eminent 

e"'In  Memoriam,"  CXX,  p.  281. 
70  "  Akbar's  Dream,"  p.  879. 
71 "  In  Memoriam,"  XXI,  p.  253. 
72"Locksley  Hall,"  p.   101. 
73  Poems,  p.  805. 


202    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

scientists  as  the  Duke  of  Argyll,74  Lord  Lilford, 
the  well-known  ornithologist,75  and  Professor 
Tyndall.76  He  showed  great  interest  in  the 
scientific  discoveries  of  his  time.77  He  read  Dar- 
win's Origin  of  Species 78  and  Herschel's  Astron- 
omy,79 studied  geology  at  Farringford  with  the 
local  geologist,  and  continually  used  the  platform 
on  the  top  of  his  house  to  observe  the  stars.80 
Moreover,  he  was  careful,  painstaking,  and  suc- 
cessful in  his  scientific  study.  Some  years  before 
the  publication  of  "  Vestiges  of  Creation,"  in 
1844,  the  sections  of  "  In  Memoriam "  about 
evolution  had  been  read  to  his  friends.  Of  nat- 
ural selection  Romanes  said  :  "  In  '  In  Memo- 
riam '  Tennyson  noted  the  fact,  and  a  few  years 
later  Darwin  supplied  the  explanation."  81  The 
way  in  which  eminent  scientific  men  looked  upon 
the  poet  is  indicated  by  the  biographer  who  says 
that  "  scientific  leaders  like  Herschel,  Owen, 
Sedgwick,  and  Tyndall  regarded  him  as  a  cham- 
pion of  Science  and  cheered  him  with  words  of 
genuine  admiration  for  his  love  of  Nature,  for 

"Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  339- 
"Ibid.,  p.  414. 
""Ibid.,  p.  427. 
"Ibid.,  p.  185. 
78  Ibid.,  p.  443. 
70  Ibid.,  p.  356. 

80  Ibid,  p.  431. 

81  Ibid.,  p.  223. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  203 

the  eagerness  with  which  he  welcomed  all  the 
latest  scientific  discoveries,  and  for  his  trust  in 
truth.  Science  indeed  in  his  opinion  was  one  of 
the  main  forces  tending  to  disperse  the  supersti- 
tion that  still  darkens  the  world."  s2  They  also 
strongly  commended  his  scientific  references  as 
being  true  to  the  facts.  One  of  the  most  famous 
physicians  for  the  insane  said  of  the  mad-scene  in 
"  Maud  ",  that  it  was  "  the  most  faithful  repre- 
sentation of  madness  since  Shakespeare." 83 
"  Maud  "  is  not  a  treatise  on  insanity,  nor  is  any  _ 
poem  of  Tennyson's  an  essay  on  botany  or  orni- 
thology. Rev.  B.  Jowett,  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Ten- 
nyson, gives  a  sensible  word  upon  the  subject. 
He  says :  "  Have  not  many  sciences  such  as 
Astronomy  or  Geology  a  side  of  feeling  which  is 
poetry?  No  sight  touches  ordinary  persons  so 
much  as  a  starlight  night."  84 

Tennyson's  positive  acceptance  of  the  doctrine 
of  evolution  undoubtedly  did  much  to  win  for 
him  the  cordial  approval  of  scientific  men.  His 
belief  in  the  truth  of  this  hypothesis  of  science 
influenced  largely  his  doctrine  of  the  individual 
and  of  society.  Evolution  may  not  make  a  man 
proud  of  the  past,  but  it  gives  him  a  most  won- 


derful hope  for  the  future  and  counsels  patience 


62  Ibid.,  pp.  298,  299. 
S3Ibid.,  p.  398. 
"Ibid.,  p.  433- 


204    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

with  the  present.  Someone  has  said  that,  "if 
man  was  once  an  ape,  there  is  all  the  greater 
reason  to  believe  that  he  will  one  day  be  an 
angel."  One  can  cheerfully  labor  and  suffer  if  he 
is  confident  that  in  the  end  the  product  will  justify 
the  process.  As  far  back  as  the  years  spent  in 
Cambridge,  Tennyson  propounded  the  remark- 
able theory  that  the  "  development  of  the  human 
body  might  possibly  be  traced  from  the  radiated, 
vermicular,  moluscous,  and  vertebrate  organ- 
isms." Whatever  may  have  been  the  significance 
of  that  statement  made  by  him  in  a  college  dis- 
cussion, when  the  theory  of  organic  evolution 
was  seriously  suggested  by  science.  Tennyson 
was  prepared  to  accept  it.  It  came  into  his 
poetry  because  it  was  a  part  of  himself.  "  So 
many  a  million  of  ages  have  gone  to  the  making 
of  man,"  85  and  so  great  progress  has  already 
been  made  that  it  inspires  the  hope  that  in  the 
ages  to  come  he  will  become  "  no  longer  half 
akin  to  brute."  86 

In  "  The  Promise  of  May  "  Edgar  speaks  of 
man  as  "  the  child  of  Evolution." 87  In  the 
Memoir  two  or  three  stanzas  are  quoted  that  are 
of  special  interest  as  bearing  upon  this  theme. 

85 "  Maud,"  p.  290. 

86  "  In  Memoriam,"  p.  286. 

57  Act  I,  p.  784- 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  205 

After  the  old  verse  XXVI  of  the  "  Palace  of 
Art  "  were  these  lines : 

From  shape  to  shape  at  first  within  the  womb, 

The  brain  is  molded,  she  began, 
And  thro'  all  phases  of  all  thought  I  come 

Unto  the  perfect  man. 
All  nature  widens  upward.     Evermore 

The  simpler  essence  lower  lies, 
More  complex  is  more  perfect,  owning  more 

Discourse,  more  widely  wise.87*1 

Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  was  particularly  interested 
in  "  The  Two  Voices,"  and  in  a  letter  to  the  poet 
quoted  the  lines : 

Or  if  thro'  lower  lives  I  came  — 
Thro'  all  experience  past  became 
Consolidate  in  mind  and  frame. 

With  the  letter  he  sent  a  copy  of  his  Psychology, 
which  he  said,  "  applies  to  the  elucidation  of  men- 
tal science,  the  hypothesis  to  which  you  refer."  88 
Tennyson  faced  with  boldness  the  objections 
urged  against  the  theory.  He  knew  that  the 
single  life  is  ruthlessly  sacrificed,  that  "  a 
thousand  types  are  gone."  89  He  held  firmly  to 
the  belief  in  the  freedom  of  the  will.  He  recog- 
nized the  possibility  of  degeneration  as  well  as 
of  progress.     He  saw 

67a  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  pp.  119,  120. 

88  Ibid.,  p.  411. 

88 "  In  Memoriam,"  LV,  LVI,  p.  261. 


206    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Evolution  ever  climbing  after  some   ideal  good 
And  reversion  ever  dragging  Evolution  in  the  mud.*0 

But  his  hope  was  still  large  for  the  future. 
He  declared :  "  We  are  far  from  the  noon  of 
man,  there  is  time  for  the  race  to  grow."  91  The 
race  is  growing,  and  man  is  being  made.  The 
whole  record  of  the  past  indicates  that  we  are 
moving  toward  the  light.  Man  is  being  trained 
to  take  his  share  in  the  work  of  the  world.  This 
makes  true  democracy  a  certainty  of  the  future, 
and  a  promised  blessing,  not  a  menace.  To  de- 
mand and  force  in  a  democracy  that  for  which 
men  are  not  prepared  is  revolution,  and  retards 
instead  of  hastens  the  progress  of  the  race.  To- 
day many  things  are  to  us  mysterious,  because 

the  goal  of  this  great  world 
Lies  beyond  sight." 

Tennyson  loved  to  live  in  the  future.  He 
/  called  that  his  "  world."  93  He  said  :  "  To  me 
often  the  far-off  world  seems  nearer  than  the 
present,  for  in  the  present  is  always  something 
unreal  and  indistinct,  but  the  other  seems  a  good 
solid   planet,   rolling  round   its   green   hills   and 

90"Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  565. 

81 "  The  Dawn,"  p.  889. 

82 "To  the  Queen,"  p.  475. 

,s  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  168. 


I 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  207 

paradises  to  the  harmony  of  more  steadfast 
laws."  94     It  was  Merlin  the  Wise  who  said : 

my  blood, 
Hath  earnest  in  it  of  far  springs  to  be,95 

and  that  inner  prophecy  of  a  grander  future  for 
the  individual  and  the  world  the  poet  felt  in  him- 
self. What  the  coming  days  have  in  store  for  us 
no  mortal  man  can  fully  or  accurately  describe. 
We  are  sure  that 

Far  away  beyond  her  myriad  coming  changes   earth 

will  be 
Something  other  than  the  wildest  modern  guess  of  you 

and  me.9* 

There  are  new  developments  awaiting  us  in  the 
future.  Of  that  we  are  confident,  though  we 
cannot  describe  them  in  detail.  Our  sons  will 
surpass  us  as  we  have  exceeded  the  achievements 
of  our  fathers.97     The  Light  will  be  Victor.9S 

England,  France,  all  man  to  be, 

Will  make  one  people  ere  man's  race  be  run.99 

The  future,  truthfully  conceived,  solves  many  of 
the  riddles  of  the  present.  Of  the  mysteries  he 
says : 

84  Ibid.,  pp.  171,  172. 

85 "  Merlin  and  Vivien,"  p.  389. 

96 "  Locksley  Hall   Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  566. 

87  "  Mechanophilus,"  p.  890. 

6S "  On  the  Jubilee  of  Queen  Victoria,"  p.  806. 

09 "  To  Victor  Hugo,"  p.  534. 


1 


208    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Our  playwright  may  show 

In  some  fifth  Act  what  this  wild  drama  means.100 

There  is  much  hopeless  pessimism  in  the  world, 
and  this  fact  of  life  finds  abundant  expression  in 
the  poetry  of  Tennyson.  The  man  who  suffers 
and  loses  may  despair  of  himself.  The  man  who 
observes  and  thinks  may  become  hopeless  con- 
cerning the  possibilities  of  human  nature.  The 
one  who  reflects  upon  the  history  of  peoples  may 
despair  of  the  future  progress  of  the  race.  All 
these  phases  of  pessimism  are  faithfully  pictured 
in  the  poems.  In  "  The  Two  Voices  "  one  says 
to  him : 

Thou  art  so  steep'd  in  misery, 
Surely  'twere  better  not  to  be.101 

In  "  The  Promise  of  May,"  Harold  exclaims: 
Better  death  with  our  first  wail  than  life.102 

In  "  Vastness  "  one  asks  the  question  : 

What  is  it  all,  if  we  all  of  us  end  but  in  being  our  own 

corpse-coffins  at  last, 
Swallow'd  in  Vastness,  lost  in  Silence,  drown'd  in  the 

deeps  of  a  meaningless  Past  ? 103 

The  same  spirit  is  revealed  in  "  Locksley  Hall." 
Many  lines   in   "  Maud  "  are  expressive  of  the 

100 "  The  Play,"  p.  836. 
101  P.  31. 

108  Act  II,  p.  700. 
103  P.  813. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  209 

same  pessimism  that  is  blind  to  everything  ex- 
cept  the  lower  and  grosser  facts  of  the  material  J 
world.     One  will  serve  as  a  type  of  all :     "  Cheat 
and  be  cheated  and  die;  who  knows?     We  are 
ashes  and  dust."  104 

Harold  discarded  the  philosophy  that  teaches 
that  the  mind  of  the  child  is  a  "  tabula  rasa,"  and 
exclaimed : 

There,  there  is  written  in  invisible  inks 
"  Lust,  Prodigality,  Covetousness,  Craft, 
Cowardice,  Murder  " —  and  the  heat  and  fire 
Of  life  will  bring  them  out,  and  black  enough, 
So  the  child  grow  to  manhood.105 

In  "  Geraint  and  Enid  "  the  despair  of  the  in- 
dividual and  of  human  nature  is  also  affirmed  of 
the  race.     It  is  the  logical  inference.      "  O  pur- 
blind race  of  miserable  men  "   is  the  statement 
of  this  conclusion.106     It  is  essentially  the  same 
thought  that  is  embodied  in  such  lines  as  this  in 
"  Maud  "  :     "  Wretchedest  age,   since   Time  be-  ' 
gan." 107     The    young    man    who   is    the    chief  I 
speaker  in  this  poem  sees  evil  glaring  out  from  . 
all    social    arrangements.     He    sees    despicable  ) 
meanness  and  selfishness  in  every  human  form. 
Becoming   discontented    and    cynical,    his    utter- 

504  P.  287. 

105  "The  Promise  of  May,"  Act  II,  pp.  789,  790. 

106  P.  354- 

107  V,  11,  p.  305. 


210    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

ances  are  the  expression  of  the  typical  pessimism 
of  his  day. 

While  this  phase  of  thought  is  truthfully  por- 
trayed by  the  poet  because  it  is  a  part  of  life, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Tennyson  himself  was 
a  consistent  optimist.  He  had  his  moods  of  de- 
pression and  despondency  and  despair,  and  these 
it  is  not  difficult  to  trace  in  his  writings ;  but  sun- 
shine always  dispelled  his  darkness,  hope  always 
conquered  his  despair,  and  love  always  triumphed 
over  his  sorrow  and  doubt.  This  is  seen  in 
"  The  Two  Voices,"  in  such  lines  as  these : 

"  The  highest  mounted  mind,"  he  said, 
"  Still  sees  the  sacred  morning  spread 
The  silent  summit  overhead.108 

He  could  truthfully  say  of  himself: 

I  look  at  all  things  as  they  are 
But  thro'  a  kind  of  glory.109 

Even  in  the  midst  of  his  sorrow  he  classed  him- 
self with  those  who 

trust  that  somehow  good, 
Will  be  the  final  goal  of  ill.110 

He  was   hopeful  that  education  would  become 
broad  and  enlightening  where  it  was  narrow  and 

108  P.  31. 

109 "Will  Waterproof,"  p.   112. 
110 "In  Memoriam,"  LIV,  p.  261. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  211 

benumbing.  His  hope  has  since  been  justified  by 
the  facts.  He  was  troubled  and  bewildered  by 
the  mysteries  of  life,  yet  "  he  had  a  profound 
trust  that  when  all  is  seen  face  to  face,  all  will 
be  seen  as  the  best."  in  He  had  an  eternal  hope  ' 
for  man,  and  that  hope  runs  like  a  beam  of  light  / 
through  the  volumes  of  his  verse.  He  even  spoke 
of  "  a  hope  for  the  world  in  the  coming  wars,"  112 
and  in  so  doing  was  entirely  consistent  with  his 
general  teaching  concerning  the  progress  of  the 
race. 

He  believed  and  taught  that  war  is  sometimes 
a  necessity.     Then  it  is  noble  in  any  man 

To  follow  flying  steps  of  Truth 
Across  the  brazen  bridge  of  War.113 

In  defiance  of  the  Quaker  doctrine,  he  held  it  to 
be  far  from  sin  to  strike  down  a  public  foe;  yet 
in  the  same  stanza  he  declares  that  "  lawful  and  [ 
lawless  war  are  scarcely  even  akin."  114  "  It  is  ' 
always  better  to  fight  for  the  good  than  to  rail 
at  the  ill."  115  He  himself  favored  the  Crimean 
War,  and  advocated  an  increase  of  the  navy. 

He  felt  very  deeply,  however,  the  horrors  oik 
war.     The  French  made  of  it  a  God ;  but  he  called  / 

111  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  316. 

1,2 "Maud,"  Part  III,   Sec.  6,  St.  1. 

113  "Love  Thou  Thy  Land,"  p.  65. 

1,4 "  Maud,"  Part  II,  Sees.  5-10,  p.  306. 

™Ibid.,  Part  III,  Sec.  6,  St.  v.  p.  308. 


A 


212    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

it  "  wild  war,"  "  the  child  of  Hell."  n6  Force 
does  not,  cannot,  determine  questions  of  right 
and  wrong.  It  is  "  the  brute  bullet  "  U7  that  is 
the  distinctive  instrument  employed  by  this 
"  child  of  Hell,"  and  the  ruin  it  works  is  horrible 
beyond  description.  When  war  results  in  victory 
and  you  have  killed  your  enemy,  you  must  still 
remember  that  "  your  enemy  was  a  man." 118 
In  short,  the  man 

Who  loves  war  for  war's  own  sake, 
Is  fool,  or  crazed,  or  worse.119 

War  for  the  defense  of  native  land  and  for  liberty 
is  sometimes  necessary;  but  it  is  a  sad  necessity 
even  then,  in  view  of  its  fearful  cost.  Tennyson 
actually  loathed  it,  and  his  dream  of  the  future 
millennium  included,  as  one  of  its  conspicuous 
features,  "  universal  ocean  softly  washing  all  her 
warless  isles."  120  The  highest  service  and  the 
only  justification  of  war  are  thus  to  make  war 
forever  impossible. 

War,  being  destructive,  is  therefore  only  nega- 
tively and  secondarily  the  servant  of  progress. 
A  righteous  war  may  overthrow  tyrants  and  op- 
pression, and  by  so  doing  clear  the  way  for  the 

ue"  Third  of  February,"  p.  221. 

117 "  Defense  of  Lucknow,"  p.  519. 

119 "  Locksley  Hall   Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  563. 

119  "  Epilogue,"  p.  570. 

m "  Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  565. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  213 

onward  inarch  of  true  progress.  It  is  peace  with  / 
honor  that  is  the  real  friend  of  science,  art,  labor, 
and  all  the  nobler  ministries  of  life.  All  the  ' 
special  problems  with  which  the  sociologist  deals 
are  significant  because  of  their  relation  to  the 
progress  of  the  individual  and  the  race.  It  is  to 
be  expected  that  Tennyson  will  deal  with  the 
great  principles  underlying  all  these  problems, 
rather  than  attempt  any  unusual  solutions  of 
them;  that  he  will  picture  actual  conditions 
against  the  background  of  the  noblest  ideals. 

Of  the  land  in  its  relation  to  the  welfare  of 
the  people  he  has  comparatively  little  to  say. 
The  strong  attachment  of  the  landholders  to 
their  ancestral  estates  is  portrayed  again  and 
again.  The  pathetic  cry  of  Sir  Richard,  as  he 
thought  of  the  possibility  of  losing  the  land  upon 
which  generation  after  generation  of  his  forbears 
had  lived,  is  one  of  many  expressions  of  the  love 
of  the  Englishman  for  his  inherited  estate.121 
The  unfortunate  condition  of  those  whose  farms 
were  encumbered  by  debt  and  too  heavily  taxed  is 
also  frequently  mentioned ;  but  there  is  compara- 
tively little  to  show  that  the  poet  had  thought  j 
seriously  of  the  relation  of  the  ownership  of  land  \ 
to  the  progress  of  a  people.     No  one  would  ever  ' 

be  led  to  study  the  fundamental  nature  of  the  land   ] 

• 

121  See  "The  Foresters,"  Act  I,  sc.  1,  p.  841. 


214    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

problem  by  reading  the  poems  of  Tennyson.  In 
"  The  Princess  "  one  asks  the  question : 

Why  should  not  the  great  Sirs, 

Give  up  their  Parks  some  dozen  times  a  year, 

To  let  the  people  breathe  ?  m 

In  "  The  Promise  of  May,"  Dobson  quotes  a 
"  hartist  "  who  cried  out  even  among  his  oppo- 
nents :  "  The  land  belongs  to  the  people."  123 
Such  fugitive  words  as  these  can  have  very  little 
social  significance  in  such  a  study  as  we  are  mak- 
ing. 

Tennyson's  knowledge  of  science  would  natu-, 
rally  induce  him  to  give  great  emphasis  to  the 
power  of  environment  in  the  development  of  the 
life  of  the  individual.  He  knew  that  this  theory 
of  science  was  true  in  his  own  life,  and  believed 
that  it  must  be  true  in  all  lives.  The  poet  said 
with  Ulysses :  "  I  am  a  part  of  all  that  I  have 
met."  124  Yet  when  this  teaching  seemed  to  con- 
flict with  his  conception  of  freedom,  he  positively 
affirmed  the  superiority  of  the  man  to  his  sur- 
roundings. In  "  In  Memoriam  "  he  speaks  of 
the  man 

Who  breaks  his  birth's  invidious  bar, 
And  grasps  the  skirts  of  happy  chance, 

""  "  Conclusion,"  p.  217. 
128  Act  I,  p.  779- 
121 "  Ulysses,"  p.  95. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  215 

And  breasts  the  blows  of  circumstance, 
And  grapples  with  his  evil  star; 

Who  makes  by  force  his  merit  known, 
And  lives  to  clutch  the  golden  keys, 
To  mold  a  mighty  state's  decrees, 
And  shape  the  whisper  of  the  throne.125 

Thus,  while  recognizing  the  influence  of  environ- 
ment in  the  development  of  a  life,  Tennyson  put 
his  emphasis  upon  the  possible  mastery  of  all  un- 
toward outward  conditions  by  a  soul  that  is  free 
to  aspire  and  to  achieve. 

The  city  was  to  Tennyson,  as  it  is  to  almost  all 
refined  natures,  both  attractive  and  repulsive.  I 
He  had  words  of  praise  to  speak  for  the  busy 
town,"  though  Hallam  railed  at  it  in  scornful 
terms.126  When  his  home  was  in  High  Beach, 
he  liked  the  nearness  of  London,  and  often  re- 
sorted thither  to  see  his  friends,  Spedding,  Fitz- 
gerald, Kemble,  and  others.127  The  "central1 
roar  "  of  the  great  city  had  for  him  a  peculiar 
charm.  When  he  and  his  son  went  to  the  great 
world-metropolis,  one  of  the  first  things  they  did 
was  to  walk  to  the  Strand  and  Fleet  Street. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  were  features  of  city 
life  which  were  positively  repellent  to  him. 
These  are  frequently  referred  to  by  different  char- 

mLXIV.  p.  263. 

124  "  In  Memoriam,"  LXXXIX,  p.  271. 

127  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.   150. 


216    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

acters  in  the  poems.  Edwin  Morris  had  but 
"  one  oasis  in  the  dust  and  drouth  of  city  life."  12s 
Another  was  delighted  to  turn  from  the  city  lying 
"  beneath  the  drift  of  smoke,"  to  the  oak  stand- 
ing in  the  open  field.129  The  city  clerk  was 
eager  to  get  his  little  Margaret  "  from  the  giant 
factoried  city-gloom."  130  Tennyson  urged  Mau- 
rice to  visit  him  at  the  Isle  of  Wight,  for 
that  is  "  far  from  noise  and  smoke  of  town."  131 
When  obliged  to  stay  in  the  city,  he  often  wished 
himself  "  far  away  out  of  smoky  London."  132 
These  disagreeable  physical  features  of  city  life 
are  only  the  material  counterpart  of  social  and 
moral  conditions  even  more  repellent.  The  rich, 
characterless  man  leaves  his  estate  that  "  fulsome 
Pleasure "  may  "  drown  his  heart  in  the  gross 
mud-honey  of  town."  133  The  "  Ancient  Sage" 
had  not  lost  his  wisdom  when  he  said :  "  Night 
enough  is  there  in  yon  dark  city."  134  The  one 
who  speaks  in  "  Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years 
After  "  paints  the  picture  in  colors  that  are  dark, 
but  none  too  dark  for  the  facts.135 

128  "  Edwin  Morris,"  p.  83. 

129  "  The  Talking  Oak,"  p.  89. 
ir!0"Sea  Dreams,"  p.  156. 

131  "  To  Rev.  F.  D.  Maurice,"  p.  234. 

132  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  237. 

133  "Maud,"  XVI,   1. 
m  Poems,  p.  551. 

130  P.  566. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  217 

To  one  who  knows  that  such  conditions  as 
those  just  described  actually  prevail  it  is  no  won- 
der that  in  the  city  the  great  problems  of  human 
society  seem  to  center.  When  the  "  smouldering 
fire  of  fever  creeps  across  the  rotted  floor,"  it  is 
evident  that  the  problem  most  imperatively  de- 
manding immediate  solution  is  one  of  sanitation. 
In  "  The  Village  Wife  "  one  whose  daughter  had 
died  of  fever  said:  "  An  I  thowt  'twur  the. will 
o'  the  Lord,  but  Miss  Annie  she  said  it  wur 
draains."  136  To  drain  the  fen  is  as  certainly  a 
social  service  as  to  raise  the  school.137  The  ig- 
norant in  city  and  country  are  forever  ascribing 
disease  to  the  will  of  the  Lord,  and  forever  neg- 
lecting to  whitewash  their  own  cottages.138 
Even  the  leprosy  was  probably  not  a  legacy  of  the 
crusades,  as  was  commonly  supposed,  but  was 
caused  by  meager  and  unwholesome  diet,  miser- 
able lodging  and  clothing,  physical  and  moral 
degradation.139  Such  facts  as  these  the  poet  did 
not  allow  his  readers  to  forget,  nor  the  other 
equally  important  fact  that  the  health  of  the  miner 
is  involved  with  the  health  of  the  body.140  He/i 
believed  that  the  housing  of  the  poor  was  one  of  • 

136  P.  514. 

187"LocksIey  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  567. 
is8 «  The  promise  0f  May,"  Act  III,  p.  795. 
"■Note,  p.  825. 
140  Memoir,  Vol.  T,  p.  241. 


; 


218    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

the  great  problems  of  human  society.141  The 
need  of  an  intelligent  study  of  the  problem  is 
indicated  by  such  portrayals  as  that  in  "  The 
Promise  of  May,"  where  Dan  Smith  complains 
of  the  thin  walls  of  the  house  in  which  as  a  serv- 
ant he  is  obliged  to  live,  the  broken  windows 
which  remain  unmended  even  when  the  weather 
is  intensely  cold,  and  the  "  missus  "  in  a  precari- 
ous condition.142  Such  ignorance  of  sanitary 
laws  and  of  the  hardships  and  sufferings  of  the 
poorer  classes  Tennyson  deplored  and  sought  to 
banish. 

Of  crime  and  criminals  the  poet  made  no  special 
or  exhaustive  study.  Crime  of  various  sorts  is 
'  referred  to,  though  not  described  in  any  fulness, 
in  such  poems  as  "  Maud  "  and  "  Locksley  Hall 
Sixty  Years  After."  "  Rizpah  "  records  the  life 
and  hanging  of  one  who  robbed  the  mail. 
Crimes  against  women  are  especially  condemned 
by  the  poet.  King  Arthur  and  the  Knights  of 
the  Round  Table  always  stood  ready  to  defend 
helpless  women  who  had  been  wronged  by  the 
ignoble.  Robin  Hood  is  praised  as  one  who 
never  wronged  a  maiden.143  The  rascal  in  "  Sea 
Dreams  "  is  most  vividly  depicted  partly  because 

141  Loc.   cit.,  p.  249. 

142  Act  III,  p.  795- 

113 "  The  Foresters,"  Act  III,  sc.  1,  p.  858. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  219 

the  character  is  drawn  from  a  man  who  grossly 
cheated  Tennyson  himself  in  early  life.144 

Different   forms   of  punishment   for  violation 
of  law   are  mentioned.     Imprisonment   was,   of 
course,  one  of  the  most  common.     When  Cran- 
mer  was  put  into  prison,  he  found  nothing  to 
complain  of  in  the  prison  fare.145     On  the  other 
hand,  Howard  describes  the  horrible  conditions 
under  which  certain  prisoners  were  compelled  to 
exist  or  to  die,  though  these  prisoners  were  here- 
tics, rather  than  disturbers  of  the  social  order. 
I  have  seen  heretics  of  the  poorer  sort, 
Expectant  of  the  rack  from  day  to  day, 
To  whom  the  fire  were  welcome,  lying  chained, 
In  breathless  dungeons  over  steaming  sewers, 
Fed  with  rank  bread  that  crawl'd  upon  the  tongue, 
And  putrid  water,  every  drop  a  worm, 
Until  they  died  of  rotted  limbs ;  and  then 
Cast  on  the  dung  hill  naked,  and  become 
Hideously  alive  again  from  head  to  heel, 
Made  even  the  carrion-nosing  mongrel  vomit, 
With  hate  and  horror.1** 

Other  terrible  forms  of  torture  are  described 
in  the  fifth  act  of  "  Queen  Mary."  In  the  drama 
of  "  Harold,"  Guy  says  to  Harold : 

In  our  oubliettes 

Thou  shalt  or  rot  or  ransom.147 

1H  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  429. 

148 "Queen  Mary,"  Act  IV,  sc.  2,  p.  627. 

148  Act  IV,  sc.  3,  p.  634. 

147  Act  II,  sc.  1,  p.  662. 


220    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

In  the  biography  mention  is  made  of  the  fact  that 
women  who  were  found  guilty  of  murdering  their 
husbands,  or  of1  the  other  offenses  comprised 
under  the  terms  "  high  "  or  "  petit  treason,"  were 
publicly  burned,  by  a  law  which  was  not  abol- 
ished till  1790.148  Punishment  by  transportation 
is  also  mentioned.149 

There  is  no  evidence  that  Tennyson  had  ever 
studied  carefully  the  relation  of  intemperance  to 
crime,  poverty,  and  social  degradation.  He  was 
not  an  advocate  of  total  abstinence,  and  was  not 
averse  to  wine  and  beer,  and  similar  drinks,  for 
himself.  It  was  not  merely  a  poetic  figure  when 
he  called  upon  all  to  drink  to  the  health  of  the 
queen,  to  the  "  great  cause  of  freedom  "  and  "  the 
great  name  of  England !  "  150  There  were  times 
when  he  "  yearned  after  a  pint  of  pale  ale." 
When  he  "  drank  scarcely  any  wine,"  it  was  a 
thing  to  be  especially  noted.151  He  was  disgusted 
enough  when  he  saw  the  drunkenness  at  elec- 
tions,152 when  he  saw  riflemen  get  drunk  every 
night,  and  squabble  and  fight  and  disgrace  them- 
selves and  their  corps ; 153  but  the  cause  of  all 

148  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  7. 

149  Ibid,,  p.   290. 

150  "Hands   All   Round,"  p.  575- 
m  Memoir,  Vol.  1,  p.  465. 
""Ibid.,  p.  350. 

163  Ibid.,  pp.  463,  464. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  221 

this  disorder  and  disgrace  he  apparently  never 
discovered,  nor  did  he  discern  its  significance  for 
social  progress.  One  can  but  feel  that  this  very 
obvious  limitation  upon  his  usually  clear  vision 
was  largely  due  to  his  own  personal  habits.  He 
said  on  one  occasion  that  the  first  time  he  met 
Robertson,  he  could  talk  of  nothing  but  beer, 
stating,  by  way  of  explanation,  that  this  was 
"  from  pure  nervousness."  154 

In  the  poems  the  whole  subject  receives  scant 
mention,  and  this  is  one  of  the  omissions  that 
carry  a  message.  To  be  sure,  in  "  The  Promise 
of  May"  the  evils  of  workingmen  wasting  their 
wages  at  a  pothouse  are  recognized,  if  not  fully 
and  powerfully  pictured.155  "  The  Northern 
Cobbler," 156  however,  gives  the  most  striking 
dramatic  portrayal  of  the  terrible  results  of  the 
drink  habit  upon  one  who  has  become  a  slave  to 
it.  The  old  cobbler  tells  of  his  courtship  and 
marriage,  and  of  the  happiness  that  followed  until 
he  was  mastered  by  his  passion  for  gin.  Then 
he  lost  his  customers,  abused  his  wife  and  child, 
and  injured  his  own  household  possessions. 
New  light  and  life  came  to  him  only  when  he 
resolved  with  all  his  might  to  quit  his  evil  way, 
and  bring  back  peace  and  happiness  to  his  home. 

iMIbid.,  p.  264. 

165  See  especially    Act   III. 

166  P.   504. 


222    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

He  bought  a  bottle  of  gin  and  placed  it  before 
him  in  the  shop.  Then  he  faced  it  every  day 
and  became  its  master,  as  before  it  had  mastered 
him.  This  is  a  picture  not  to  be  forgotten;  but 
the  importance  to  society  at  large  of  the  individ- 
ual problem  which  the  old  cobbler  solved  Tenny- 
son did  not  reveal  to  the  world  nor  appreciate 
himself.  In  this  he  is  simply  one  of  the  crowd. 
He  did  not  understand  that  the  results  of  scientific 
investigation  into  the  facts  declare  unmistakably 
that  this  is  one  of  the  great  problems  of  the  day, 
which  cannot  be  left  to  the  tender  mercies  of 
squint-brained  cranks  and  decrepit  old  women. 
No  poet  has  yet  arisen  to  do  for  the  enslaved 
millions  of  the  liquor  habit  what  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe  did  for  the  negro  in  her  imaginative  prose. 
Tennyson  was  likewise  born  too  soon  to  be 
greatly  interested  in  the  scientific  administration 
of  charity.  He  felt  sincerely  and  deeply,  so  far 
as  his  knowledge  went,  the  sorrows  and  sufferings 
of  the  poor,  and  pictured  their  condition  and  their 
needs  with  a  sympathetic  feeling  that  was  genu- 
ine and  strong.  He  praised  those  who  gave  of 
their  substance  to  the  sick  and  poverty-stricken. 
This  praise  was  a  part  of  the  honor  accorded 
Marie  Alexandrovna,  Duchess  of  Edinburgh, 
whose  hand  at  home  was  gracious  to  her  poor.157 
The  divine  ideals  of  service  which  were  the  glory 

157  "  A  Welcome,"  p.  225. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  223 

of  the  Round  Table  impelled  Arthur  to  say  to 

Kay,  the  seneschal : 

Take  thou  my  churl,  and  tend  him  curiously 
Like  a  King's  heir,  till  all  his  hurts  be  whole.158 

There  was  nothing  nobler  for  the  penitent,  re- 
deemed Guinevere  to  do  than  to  give  the  remnant 
of  her  life  to  the  distribution  of  charity  to  the 
poor  and  the  sick.  Leonard,  in  "  Locksley  Hall 
Sixty  Years  After,"  is  exhorted  to  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  him  who  "  served  the  poor,  and  built 
the  cottage,  raised  the  school  and  drained  the 
fen." 159  Great  admiration  is  given  to  Robin 
Hood,  who,  though  he  robbed  the  rich,  gave  gen- 
erously to  the  poor.  This  virtue  was  also  promi- 
nent in  the  life  of  Akbar,  who  was  said  to  have 
treated  the  poor  for  nothing.  Tennyson  com- 
mended the  church  for  preaching  and  practicing 
this  kind  of  charity,  and  giving  to  it  all  of  the 
sanction  of  the  religious  motive.  Cranmer  was 
really  speaking  for  the  church  when  he  said: 
"  Give  to  the  poor,  ye  give  to  God."  16° 

The  biographer  declares  that  the  poet  reflected 
much  upon  the  great  movements  of  philanthropy, 
and  his  sympathy  with  them  and  with  the  gen- 
erous impulse  from  which  they  sprang  is  evident 
in  his  verse.     He  felt  that  the  English  country 

168  "The   Last  Tournament,"  p.   445. 

150  P.  567. 

160 «  Queen  Mary,"  Act  IV,  sc.  3,  p.  632. 


224    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

gentlemen  ought  to  be  kinder  to  the  poor,  and 
said  so  plainly.161  He  thought  of  the  poor  espe- 
cially in  cold  weather,  and  feared  that  it  would 
bring  them  great  hardship.162  He  thus  helped 
to  strengthen  in  English-speaking  people  the  sense 
of  obligation  of  the  rich  to  the  poor,  and  the 
impulse  to  charitable  action.  He  was  the  friend 
and  supporter  of  great  philanthropic  movements 
and  institutions,  and  in  his  own  life  practiced  the 
principles  he  taught  in  his  poems ;  but  of  the  great 
problems  of  indoor  and  outdoor  relief  he  wrote 
nothing,  because  of  these  he  himself  had  no 
knowledge. 

Tennyson  believed  in  progress.  He  believed 
this  to  be  the  assured  destiny  of  the  race  and  the 
world.  This  is  the  fundamental  tone  in  all  his 
distinctive  melodies.  The  doctrine  of  evolution, 
which  he  championed  so  zealously  in  science,  was 
really  his  doctrine  of  the  movement  of  the  world 
and  of  all  life.  He  was  frank  to  say  that,  in  his 
judgment,  ruin  attaches  to  everything  material. 
To  this  degree  he  has  rightly  been  called  pessi- 
mistic. Even  wisdom  as  such  cannot  withstand 
evil,  as  the  conflict  of  Merlin  and  Vivien  illus- 
trates. The  beast  in  man  and  in  the  race  must 
be  worked  out,  if  real  progress  is  ever  to  be  at- 
tained.     It  is  only  as  the  spiritual  becomes  dom- 

161  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  243. 
™Ibid.,  p.  261. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  225 

inant  that  the  triumph  of  the  higher  is  made  cer- 
tain and  genuine  progress  becomes  a  fact  in  the 
world. 

What  has  already  been  said  concerning  Tenny- 
son's appreciation  of  the  great  problems  of  the 
soul  and  of  life,  of  poverty  and  suffering  and  sin, 
of  all  the  forces  that  seem  to  make  for  decay  and 
ruin  and  death,  is  sufficient  evidence  that  the  poet 
did  not  overlook  or  ignore  the  stern  facts  of  exist- 
ence in  order  to  proclaim  a  hopeful  doctrine  of 
progress.  The  conditions  that  are  portrayed  in 
"Maud"  and  the  two  "  Locksley  Halls"  must 
have  been  clearly  seen  and  deeply  felt  by  Tenny- 
son before  they  could  have  been  so  vividly  set 
forth.  He  saw  realities,  sad  and  disheartening 
as  they  were.  He  called  upon  all  the  Christmas 
bells  to  ring  out  the  false,  the  grief  that  saps  the 
mind,  the  feud  of  rich  and  poor,  the  ancient  form 
of  party  strife,  the  want,  the  care,  the  sin,  the 
faithless  coldness  of  the  times,  the  false  pride  in 
place  and  blood,  the  civic  slander  and  the  spite, 
the  old  shapes  of  foul  disease,  the  narrowing  lust 
of  gold,  the  thousand  wars  of  old,  the  darkness 
of  the  land.  He  did  this  in  order  to  ring  in  the 
truth  and  love  and  peace  of  the  Christ  that  is  to 
be.163  He  knew  that  "  the  old  order  changeth," 
and  oftentimes  progress  is  retarded,  and  even 
takes  a  backward  and  a  downward  step ;  but  in 

163 "  Tn   Memoriam,"   CVI,   p.   277. 


226   SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

the  end  "  God  fulfils  himself  "  in  the  new  order 
that  comes  to  be  established. 

If  these  discouraging  facts  are  frankly  faced, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  poet  maintains  a  stal- 
wart faith  in  the  ever-increasing  triumph  of  the 
race  and  the  final  perfection  of  the  world,  he  must 
have  had  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  was  in  him. 
What  was  that  reason? 

First,  he  believed  that  there  are  resident  forces,/ 
as  evolutionists  say,  in  the  world  and  in  man 
which  give  assurance  of  progress.  Though  these 
forces  are  the  abiding  realities,  they  are  not  mani- 
fest to  the  one  who  does  not  look  beneath  the 
surface.  They  are  perceived  only  by  the  one  who 
has  a  passion  for  truth  and  who  cannot  be  de- 
ceived by  appearance.  They  are  spiritual  reali- 
ties and  are  spiritually  discerned.  These  remain 
when  bodies  and  forms  and  creeds  and  institu- 
tions pass  into  ruin  and  decay.  When  "  the  old 
order  changeth,"  as  change  it  will,  it  is  only  that 
its  spiritual  essence  may  pass  on  and  on  into  some 
higher  form.  It  is  thus  that  "God  fulfils  him- 
self." 

Again  Tennyson  had  great  faith  in  time,  and 
what  it  can  do  for  the  individual  and  the  world. 
He  had  little  patience  with  revolutionists  of  any 
kind.  Those  who  expect  all  things  in  an  hour 
were  not  of  his  ilk.  He  was  not  discouraged 
when  men  said : 


/ 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  227 

The  world  is  like  a  drunken  man, 
Who  cannot  move  straight  to  his  end  —  but  reels 
Now  to  the  right,  then  as  far  to  the  left.164 

In  "  The  Ancient  Sage  "  he  asks : 

Who  knows?  or  whether  this  earth-narrow  life 
Be  yet  but  yolk  and  forming  in  the  shell  ? 165 

With  time  that  "  earth-narrow  life  "  will  broaden 
and  reveal  its  essential  nature  and  its  highest  mis- 
sion. The  pessimist  is  such  simply  because  he  is 
blind.  He  sees  failure  and  wreck  and  loss,  and 
does  not  see  the  triumph  to  which  failure  is  but 
the  prelude.  He  does  not  see  life  in  the  large 
and  the  high  achievement  which  only  time  can 
bring.     In  1842  Tennyson  wrote: 

My  faith  is  large  in  Time 
And  that  which  shapes  it  to  some  perfect  end.169 

That  faith  grew  stronger  to  the  end  of  his  life. 

Moreover,  he  believed  that  what  has  actually 
been  wrought  up  to  the  present  time  is  more  than 
prophecy ;  it  is  evidence  of  "  the  far  things  to  be." 
He  had  read  history  and  science  to  good  purpose. 
He  knew  what  the  past  had  been.  Then  he 
looked  at  his  present,  and  saw  what  had  actually 
been  accomplished  through  the  development  of 
powers  inherent  in  the  world  and  life. 

164 "  Queen  Mary,"  Act  IV,  sc.  3,  p.  634. 

1,5  P.  549- 

"""Love  and  Duty,"  p.  93. 


228    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

All  the  years  invent; 
Each  month  is  various  to  present 
The  world  with  some  development.167 

Looking  backward,  and  then  at  the  present,  he 
saw  clearly  the  direction  of  the  movement. 

All  things  move 

And  human  things  returning  on  themselves 
Move  onward  leading  up  the  golden  year.168 

When  he  wrote,  "  That  which  they  have  done  but 
earnest  of  the  things  that  they  shall  do,"  169  he 
was  only  affirming  that  for  which  most  positive 
evidence  had  been  adduced.  Men  are  constantly 
achieving.  The  brain  grows  with  using.  There 
is  nothing  lost  to  man. 

So  that  still  garden  of  the  souls 
In  many  a  figured  leaf  enrolls 
The  total  world  since  life  began.170 

Then,  since  men  are  constantly  attaining,  and 
nothing  is  lost,  progress  is  the  inevitable  conclu- 
sion. 

Lastly,  and  most  comprehensively,  Tennyson 
believed  in  God.  No  one  can  write  any  part 
of  the  philosophy  of  the  great  poet  and  leave  God 
out ;  for  the  presence  and  power  of  the  Almighty 
in  the  world  and  society  and  the  life  of  the  indi- 

167 «  yYiq  Two  Voices,"  p.  31. 
168 "The  Golden  Year,"  p.  94. 
109"Locksley  Hall,"  p.    101. 
170  "In  Memoriam,"  XLIII,  p.  258. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  PROGRESS  229 

vidual  were  an  underlying  principle  in  all  his 
thinking.  This  fact  revealed  the  order  in  seem- 
ing chaos,  and  the  hidden  purpose  of  experiences 
apparently  meaningless  and  dark.  When  others 
were  bewildered  by  failure  and  defeat  he  still 
walked  in  the  light ;  for  he  held 

That  men  may  rise  on  stepping  stones 
Of  their  dead  selves  to  higher  things. 

To  those  higher  things  God  is  forever  calling  his 
children,  even  out  of  the  grave  of  their  dead 
selves.  Then  no  toil  or  suffering  or  sorrow 
stands  by  itself.  It  is  a  part  of  a  larger  whole, 
and  gets  its  significance  from  its  relation  to  the 
great  consummation  to  which  it  contributes. 
I  see  in  part 

That  all,  as  in  some  piece  of  art, 

Is  toil  cooperant  to  an  end.171 

As  it  is  with  the  individual,  so  it  is  with  the  great 
universe  of  which  he  is  a  part.  "  Thro  '  the  ages 
one  increasing  purpose  runs."  172  That  purpose 
is  ever  being  accomplished,  because  above  and  be- 
yond all  is 

That  God  which  ever  lives  and  loves, 
One  God,  one  law,  one  element, 
And  one  far-off  divine  event, 
To  which  the  whole  creation  moves.173 

171  Ibid.,  CXXVIII,  p.  283. 

172  "  Locksley  Hall,"  p.    101. 
173 "  In   Memoriam,"  p.   286. 


CHAPTER  IX 

SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION 

We  have  seen  that  literature  and  sociology  are 
mutually  helpful  to  each  other  in  their  great  and 
inspiring  tasks.  Sociology  gives  to  literature 
facts  concerning  the  social  life  of  individuals  and 
of  classes,  and  in  return  literature  gives  to  soci- 
ology a  concrete  and  dramatic  presentation  of  the 
condition  and  needs  of  the  time  it  attempts  to  por- 
tray. The  misapprehensions  which  literature 
creates,  sociology  corrects  by  a  careful  record  of 
the  results  of  scientific  investigation  into  social 
realities.  Literature  gives  life  and  power  to  facts 
which  of  themselves  are  inert  and  dead,  and 
brings  these  facts  to  the  knowledge  of  multitudes 
who  would  otherwise  be  ignorant  of  them.  These 
two  great  departments  of  human  effort  are,  there- 
fore, partners  and  not  antagonists,  each  render- 
ing to  the  other  a  service  that  is  of  great  sig- 
nificance and  value. 

Literature  is,  however,  only  one  of  many  docu- 
ments to  which  the  student  of  society  must  give 
careful  attention.  It  is  the  helper,  but  never  the 
ruler,  of  the  worker  in  the  social  realm.  Only 
230 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  231 

as  literature  is  true  to  the  highest  principles  of 
its  own  art  does  it  render  a  service  for  which 
the  sociologist  has  any  special  reason  to  be  grate- 
ful. When  it  attempts  to  "  talk  down,"  or  be- 
comes contented  with  slovenly  homilies,  it  does 
nothing  except  degrade  itself  in  the  eyes  of  all 
beholders.  It  must  study  and  reflect  the  past, 
giving  vividness  and  reality  to  that  which  the 
chronicler  coldly  states.  It  must  record  the  posi- 
tive and  the  negative  results  of  social  experiments 
from  which  the  principles  of  progress  shall  be- 
come more  and  more  evident.  It  is  a  part  of  its 
mission  to  disclose  tendencies  which  have  not  yet 
developed  into  recognized  movements  or  alarm- 
ing facts. 

It  is  one  of  the  special  social  functions  of  liter- 
ature to  call  attention  to  existing  wrongs  and 
to  disseminate  intelligence  concerning  abuses. 
Thus  it  becomes  an  advance  agent  of  reform; 
for  no  social  wrong  is  ever  righted  until  people 
are  first  made  aware  that  a  wrong  exists,  and 
made  to  feel  the  reality  of  the  iniquity.  It  there- 
fore does  most  effective  work  in  the  first  stages 
of  a  reform,  and  often  is  forgotten  by  the 
time  the  labor  it  inspired  has  resulted  in  correc- 
tive legislation  or  a  more  righteous  custom.  The 
breeze  which  fans  the  spark  into  flame  is  unre- 
membered  when  the  attention  of  men  is  engrossed 
by  the  great  conflagration.     But  when  literature 


232    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

brings  to  self-consciousness  the  torpid,  dormant 
society  of  its  own  day,  it  is  rendering  a  social 
service  of  great  magnitude.  It  cannot  be  ignored 
in  any  careful  study  of  social  forces. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  greatest  aid  which  liter- 
ature gives  to  the  progress  of  society  consists  in 
its  embodiment  of  the  highest  individual  and  so- 
cial ideals.  Makers  of  literature  are  not,  as  a 
rule,  successful  makers  of  social  programs. 
They  are  rather  revealers  of  an  idealism  which 
may  seem  visionary  and  impracticable,  but  which 
is  in  reality  a  call  to  the  noblest  achievements. 
This  call  people  cannot  and  will  not  ignore.  This 
is  a  mighty  force  making  for  advancement  in 
human  society.  By  the  artistic,  imaginative  pres- 
entation of  facts,  conditions,  needs,  and  ideals, 
the  writer  of  literature  becomes  a  social  educator 
and  reformer  of  great  importance  in  the  society 
whose  life  he  touches. 

It  is  therefore  natural  to  expect  that  the  writ- 
ings of  Alfred  Tennyson  will  have  social  as  well 
as  literary  significance.  He  lived  at  a  time  when 
the  changes  in  industry  and  society  were  many 
and  great.  The  discovery  of  the  motive  power 
of  steam  was  a  prelude  to  social  transformations 
that  made  the  nineteenth  century  conspicuous  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  Factories  were  estab- 
lished, foreign  and  colonial  commerce  greatly  in- 
creased.    Political  reforms  were  carried  out  by 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  233 

which  the  franchise  was  extended  and  political 
tolerance  gained  for  those  of  all  religious  faiths. 
Trades  unions  were  organized  and  great  co-op- 
erative schemes  successfully  launched.  The  age  1 
was  marked  by  the  growth  of  democracy,  polit-j 
ical  liberty,  and  education.  Our  study  reveals 
to  us  in  part  how  the  poet  influenced,  and  was 
influenced  by,  this  time  of  growth  for  the  nation, 
of  suffering  for  the  poor,  of  marvelous  change 
in  social,  industrial,  and  political  life. 

In  any  theory  of  society  the  conception  of  mant- 
is fundamental.  To  Tennyson  man  is  a  being  j 
whom  God  has  made  in  his  own  image.  He 
has  a  distinct  personality,  however,  which  is 
spiritual  in  its  essential  nature  and  is  free  in  will. 
He  dwells  in  a  body  through  which  he  is  related 
to  the  beasts  and  all  the  lower  orders  of  creation. 
He  has  therefore  a  twofold  possibility.  He  has 
angel  instincts,  which  make  him  like  to  God,  and 
he  has  possibilities  of  sin  and  degradation  which 
are  terrible  to  contemplate. 

Man's  duties  and  destinies  are  determined  by 
his  nature  and  his  highest  capacities.  He  has 
obligations  to  God,  his  Creator,  and  to  man,  his 
brother.  Being  true  to  these  obligations,  he 
moves  toward  the  summit  of  his  destiny,  which 
is  too  high  to  be  fully  attained  in  one  brief  age, 
but  demands  an  immortality.  Man  now  is  being 
made.     He  carries  in  himself  the  results  of  the 


234    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

evolution  of  the  past  and  the  prophecies  of  the  de- 
velopments of  the  future.  Such  men  as  Prince 
Albert  are  actual  illustrations  of  the  practicability 
of  these  high  ideals,  and  give  to  us  a  faith  in 
"  the  growing  purpose  of  the  sum  of  life,"  the 
noble  destiny  of  the  individual  and  the  race. 
This  is  the  man  who  lives  and  aspires  and 
achieves,  who  is  the  unit  of  the  family,  of  the 
government,  and  of  every  social  institution. 

Special  importance  attaches  to  the  conception 
of  woman  in  the  social  system.  The  society  that 
cherishes  a  low  ideal  of  the  worth  and  mission  of 
woman  cannot  itself  attain  a  high  mental  and 
moral  level.  No  woman  created  wholly  by 
the  imagination  of  Tennyson  stands  out  from 
the  company  of  her  sisters  as  absolutely  ideal. 
The  noblest  types  of  womanhood  portrayed  in  the 
poems  are  taken  from  life  and  not  from  fancy. 
It  is  a  significant  thing  that  the  poet  found  such 
women  as  Isabel  in  the  world  of  the  actual.  He 
lays  emphasis  upon  the  fact  that  woman  is  not  a 
lower  species  of  man,  but  possesses  her  own  na- 
ture and  capacities,  which  should  be  developed  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  her  own  being.  It 
is  a  mistake  to  speak  of  the  man  and  the  woman 
as  either  equals  or  unequals.  They  are  diverse, 
and  should  have  the  education  that  will  fit  them 
to  do  in  the  best  way  the  work  to  which  they 
are  called  by  their  different  tastes,  capacities,  and 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  235 

talents.  Thus  the  poet  lays  great  stress  upon  the 
noble  power  of  woman  in  her  sex-relations. 
The  function  of  motherhood  is  exalted.  This  is 
a  part  of  Tennyson's  life-philosophy;  for  only  in 
love  and  service  can  the  individual  attain  his  own 
highest  development,  and  contribute  his  part  to 
the  progress  of  the  race.  This  important  and 
highly  honorable  place  which  woman  occupies  in 
the  social  body,  makes  the  question  of  a  higher 
education,  which  shall  fit  her  to  accomplish  her 
mission  in  the  noblest  way,  one  of  the  great  social 
problems  of  the  age.  To  the  careful  study  and 
intelligent  solution  of  this  problem  the  poet  called 
the  people  of  his  time,  with  the  strong  conviction 
of  the  reformer  and  the  skilful  appeal  of  the 
artist. 

In  the  family  the  man  and  the  woman  come 
together  in  the  primary  social  organization. 
Here  it  is  necessary  that  the  freedom  of  each  be 
maintained,  and  at  the  same  time  that  the  good 
of  society  be  subserved.  To  gain  these  ends,  the 
marriage  bond  is  a  necessity.  In  every  real  spir- 
itual union  this  bond  is  not  a  burden.  It  is  a 
seal  of  the  happiness  of  two  souls  who  are  com- 
ing to  their  highest  development,  and  finding  the 
true  riches  of  life,  not  in  isolation,  but  in  pure 
and  holy  union.  If  one  suffers  because  of  a  hasty 
or  unwise  marriage,  that  suffering  should  be  en- 
dured, rather  than  imperil  the  great  interests  of 


236    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

v  society  by  a  disregard  of  the  bond  upon  which 
the  true  social  order  depends. 

One  distinct  danger  that  society  has  to  recog- 
nize and  meet  is  that  which  comes  from  marriage 
for  money,  or  rank,  or  policy.  Here  the  poet 
held  the  mirror  up  to  his  time,  and  disclosed  the 
direful  results  of  degrading  so  sacred  an  institu- 
tion by  such  ignoble  motives.  The  parties  to  such 
a  marriage  pay  the  penalty  of  this  disobedience 
to  the  highest  laws  of  spiritual  union,  and  also 
degrade  society  of  which  they  are  a  part.  No 
one  can  read  the  poems  of  Tennyson  which  treat 
of  this  subject  and  be  blind  to  the  contempt  he 
feels  for  the  match  which  is  barren  of  love  and  is 
prompted  by  selfish  or  unworthy  aims.  The 
marriage  of  true  souls  brings  peace  and  happi- 
ness. If  the  persons  are  of  unequal  rank,  the 
one  of  lower  social  position  may  find  much  in 
that  fact  to  bring  embarrassment  and  annoyance, 
but  the  love  which  is  the  heart  of  all  true  mar- 
riage is  mightier  than  all  distinctions  of  rank. 

The  principle  of  heredity  is  of  very  great  im- 
portance in  the  family  and  in  society.  The  child 
is  not  only  influenced  by  the  physical  and 
psychical  life  of  the  parents,  but  also  influences 
in  turn  the  home  and  the  school  and  the  church 
—  in  fact,  the  whole  social  body.  The  training 
of  the  child  for  his  work  in  the  world  is 
a  social  as  well  as  a  parental  duty.     To  take 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  237 

mothers,  to  whom  especially  the  care  and  nurture 
of  children  are  intrusted,  from  their  homes  to 
labor  in  mines  and  factories  for  the  support  of 
the  family  is,  therefore,  a  wrong  to  the  child,  to 
the  family,  and  to  society  at  large. 

The  ideal  which  one  holds  for  society  is  largely 
determined  by  the  ideal  cherished  for  the  indi- 
vidual. The  universe  is  one,  and  to  understand 
even  the  flower  in  the  crannied  wall  is  to  know 
what  God  and  man  is.  Each  individual  will  is 
distinct  and  free,  yet  it  has  an  eternal  significance 
for  every  other.  Good  and  evil  are  each,  first 
individual,  and  then  social.  One's  own  country 
represents  an  extension  of  the  family  group,  and 
for  the  advancement  of  the  highest  interests  of 
this  larger  social  organization  the  individual  has 
a  responsibility  that  is  real  and  great. 

To  love  one's  country  sincerely  and  intelligently 
is  a  necessary  preparation  for  participation  in  the 
still  larger  brotherhood  of  mankind.  This  uni- 
versal brotherhood  is  the  true  social  ideal.  The 
problem  is  to  change  the  actual  of  the  present  into 
the  ideal  of  the  future. 

That  is  a  problem  whose  solution  is  difficult ; 
for  today  there  are  many  barriers  separating  man 
from  his  brother,  and  dividing  society  into  differ- 
ent, and  oftentimes  antagonistic,  classes.  The 
distinctions  of  rank  are  external,  and  are  by  no 
means  always  a  mark  of  gentleness  and  worth. 


238    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TEXXYSON 

Rank  and  wealth  help  to  divide  class  from  class, 
and  too  often  bring  to  their  possessors  the  degra- 
dation which  is  born  of  luxury  and  excess,  of  false 
pride,  and  selfish  disregard  of  the  sorrows  and 
sufferings  of  others.  But,  despite  all  that  money 
can  buy  or  titles  can  bring,  joys  and  sorrows  are 
common  to  rich  and  poor.  Money  and  rank  can 
do  much  less  for  a  man  than  most  people  imagine. 
There  are  hardships  which  the  poor  alone  suffer, 
and  the  principles  of  brotherhood  lay  upon  the 
rich  an  obligation  to  give  to  their  poorer  brethren 
sympathy  and  aid.  Poverty  brings  less  actual 
suffering  in  the  country  than  in  the  city,  but  wher- 
ever it  is  found,  it  gives  to  possessors  of  wealth 
the  opportunity  to  sympathize  and  serve.  This  is 
the  teaching  of  Tennyson's  poems,  and  this  was 
the  practice  of  his  life. 

The  poet  never  advocated  the  theories  of  com- 
munism. He  did  not  believe  in  these  himself, 
and  when  they  are  mentioned  in  his  writings,  it 
is  only  to  reveal  their  foolish  and  impractical 
nature.  He  faced  the  gloomy  facts  of  social  and 
industrial  life,  but  believed  that  these  only  im- 
posed the  obligation  upon  all  members  of  society 
to  live  together  as  brethren.  Penetrating  all  dis- 
guises and  all  deceptive  appearances,  he  found 
the  cause  of  social  unrest  and  suffering  and  dis- 
order in  the  selfish  spirit  that  pervades  society. 
When  this  ignoble  spirit  of  selfishness  is  banished 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  239 

by  the  coming-  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  the  spirit 
of  love  and  service  into  human  society,  the  vex- 
ing social  problem  will  be  solved  and  the  millen- 
nial age  will  dawn. 

While  society  is  advancing  from  a  lower  to  a 
higher  stage  of  development,  institutions  are  a 
necessity.  These  represent  ideas  and  exist  to 
meet  a  need.  Their  forms  are  largely  dependent 
upon  the  conditions  of  the  time  in  which  they  are, 
and  change  as  ideas  advance  or  needs  pass  away. 
Institutions  decay,  but  the  spirit  that  gave  them 
life  and  power  passes  on  into  new  and  higher 
forms.  Here,  as  everywhere,  it  is  the  external 
and  formal  which  is  transient,  the  inner  and 
spiritual  that  is  eternal. 

The  state  is  a  social  institution  in  which  Tenny- 
son had  special  interest.  He  believed  the  Eng- 
lish government  to  be  the  best  in  the  world,  and 
had  a  peculiar  horror  of  revolutions,  and  all  sud- 
den and  violent  change  in  the  established  social 
order.  He  recognized  the  necessity  of  having 
able  officials  and  a  pure  court;  for  the  spiritual 
and  the  political  are  indissolubly  united.  Moral 
depravity  means  ultimate  political  ruin.  In  an 
hereditary  monarchy  the  king  may  be  a  tyrant, 
and  in  a  republic  the  crowd  may  be  equally  des- 
potic. Tennyson  hated  with  equal  fervor  the 
tyranny  of  one  and  the  tyranny  of  many.  The 
queen   was   to   him   the   ideal   ruler,   and   in   his 


24o    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

noblest  verse  he  voiced  the  inarticulate  loyalty 
of  the  English  people  to  their  well-loved  sover- 
eign. The  monarch  should  be  loved  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  in  return  for  this  loyal  devotion  he  should 
give  himself  and  his  all  to  the  kingdom  he  serves. 
In  the  government  the  statesman  stands  next 
to  the  ruler.  It  is  his  duty  to  understand  the 
needs  of  the  people,  and  become  a  real  leader  in 
the  accomplishment  of  their  worthiest  ends.  He 
will  despise  lying  and  every  form  of  dishonesty, 
and  seek  above  all  things  to  know  and  live  the 
truth.  If  statesman  and  people  swerve  from  the 
path  of  honor,  the  poet,  the  man  of  vision,  will 
recall  all  to  truth  and  duty.  In  this  way  the  poet 
and  the  statesman  become  partners  in  social  serv- 
ice. Both  these  public  servants  should  under- 
stand that  in  government,  as  everywhere  else,  all 
law  is  primarily  internal  and  spiritual.  It  is  writ- 
ten in  the  very  nature  of  things ;  yet,  to  be  of 
service  to  common  men,  it  must  have  external 
expression.  When  the  law  is  broken  with  im- 
punity by  its  subjects,  no  further  evidence  is 
needed  of  the  decay  of  the  government.  Laws 
which  only  imperfectly  express  the  principles  of 
social  order  should  be  changed  from  time  to  time, 
as  the  ideas  of  people  grow,  and  those  inner  and 
eternal  principles  are  more  perfectly  revealed. 
All  innovations  should,  however,  come  naturally 
out  of  the  experience  of  the  past  and  lead  the  way 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  241 

to  higher  achievements  in  the  future.  Every  true 
statesman  will  be  above  the  petty  disputes  and 
ignoble  schemes  of  selfish  factions.  He  will  see 
the  larger  truths  and  be  inspired  by  nobler  aims. 

The  church  is  a  social  institution  only  second 
in  importance  to  the  state.  God  is  the  funda- 
mental fact  in  the  world  and  in  life,  and  what 
men  call  religion  is  therefore  a  perfectly  natural 
phenomenon.  To  make  religion  effective  in  prac- 
tical life  is  the  mission  of  the  church.  Those 
who  follow  "  wandering  fires  "  miss  what  is  vital 
and  essential  in  religion.  The  church  should 
have  truth  as  its  standard,  and  love  as  its  inspir- 
ing spirit.  Tennyson  sought  for  the  truth  which 
underlies  all  religions,  and  he  believed  that  all 
these  are  in  their  highest  elements  vitally  related 
to  Christianity.  Thus  he  contended  for  a  creed 
that  is  broad  as  the  truth,  and  which  expresses 
itself  in  deeds  of  love  and  service  rather  than  in 
narrow  dogmas.  His  creed  is  written  into  his 
poems,  but  was  never  formulated  in  labeled  ar- 
ticles of  faith.  He  believed  in  God,  in  Christ?1? 
anity,  and  the  established  church,  though  he  stead- 
fastly refused  to  bejcome  a  partisan  of  any  creed 
or  sect. 

The  corruptions  and  weaknesses  of  the  church 
and  its  representatives  he  pictured  with  fearless 
candor.  The  priest  who  robs  the  poor,  and  lives 
in    luxury   and    idleness   and   excess,   stands   in 


242    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

marked  contrast  with  the  faithful  servant  of  the 
church  who  boldly  proclaims  the  truth,  ministers 
to  the  poor  and  sinful,  and  brings  comfort  and 
solace  to  the  sick  and  dying.  Maurice  and  Rob- 
ertson were  to  him  illustrations  of  what  the 
clergyman  should  be  and  do  in  order  to  make  the 
church  a  most  efficient  agent  in  social  progress. 
Progress,  to  be  real,  must  mean  the  advance- 
ment, not  of  a  favored  class,  but  of  the  people  as 
a  whole.  The  question  of  the  relation  of  democ- 
racy to  progress  is  a  very  important  and  a  very 
difficult  one.  In  the  poems  the  people  are  some- 
times pictured  as  foolish,  passionate,  and  false; 
but  even  then  they  are  capable  of  training  and 
development.  In  the  past  they  have  been  op- 
pressed and  made  to  bear  heavy  burdens.  It  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  resented  such 
treatment,  and  in  time  came  to  demand  for  them- 
selves justice  and  a  fair  share  of  privilege  and 
of  power.  This  demand  does  not  mean  that 
every  man  is  the  equal  of  every  other  in  natural 
endowments,  and  should  be  equal  in  material  pos- 
sessions. That  is  an  absurdity.  It  does  mean 
that  every  man  should  have  a  fair  chance  to  be 
I  his  best  and  to  do  what  he  is  prepared  to  do. 

Education  thus  becomes  a  most  important  fac- 
tor in  social  progress;  but  this  signifies  much 
more  than  acquiring  knowledge.  True  education 
will  train  one  for  the  position  in  life  he  is  destined 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  243 

to  fill  and  will  include  the  physical  and  spiritual 
as  well  as  the  intellectual.  If  it  be  true  to  its 
ideal,  it  will  be  pervaded  by  the  spirit  of  love. 
It  must  give  its  blessings  to  the  masses,  that  they 
may  be  prepared  for  the  duties  that  are  sure  to 
come  to  them  with  the  advance  of  the  democratic 
idea.  This  gives  special  significance  to  the  uni- 
versity-extension movement,  and  kindred  schemes 
for  the  spread  of  popular  education.  The  dis- 
coveries of  science  are  vastly  important  in  this 
new  age.  These  teach  us  that  the  method  of 
evolution  is  the  true  method  of  social  progress. 
War  for  the  defense  of  one's  country  or  £he  right- 
eous cause  is  sometimes  a  necessity,  and  the  male 
children  should  therefore  be  trained  to  defend  the 
nation  in  time  of  peril  as  well  as  to  serve  it  in 
time  of  peace. 

Tennyson  faced  the  gloomy  facts  of  life  with 
genuine  courage,  and  portrayed  these  in  his 
poems;  yet  he  was  never  a  pessimist.  He  be- 
lieved that  the  future  has  much  light  to  shed  upon 
dark  realities  of  the  present.  Of  the  special  social 
problems  he  spoke  with  the  freedom  always  ac- 
corded the  poet.  He  pictured  the  attachment  of 
landowners  to  their  ancestral  estates,  the  gains 
and  perils  of  city  life,  the  consequences  of  disre- 
gard of  sanitary  laws,  the  power  of  environment 
in  the  development  of  the  man,  the  causes  and 
effects  of  crime,  the  forms  of  punishment  used, 


244    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

and  the  necessity  and  beauty  of  a  noble  charity. 
Concerning  some  important  themes  he  is  silent. 
Seeing  clearly,  as  he  did,  the  foes  of  progress, 
he  yet  remained  to  the  end  of  his  life  a  consistent 
'  optimist ;  for  he  believed  in  the  innate  powers  of 
the  man  made  in  the  image  of  God,  in  the  revela- 
tions and  blessings  that  time  can  bring,  in  the 
splendid  prophecy  of  present  achievements,  and 
in  the  unfailing  wisdom  and  power  and  love  of 
God. 

In  conclusion,  then,  we  may  safely  affirm  that 
Tennyson  has  rendered  to  the  world  a  distinct 
social  service,  by  portraying  with  clearness  and 
beauty  and  power  the  time  in  which  he  lived. 
Anyone  possessing  the  poems  of  the  great  laureate 
I  has  at  hand  data  from  which  he  may  learn  the 
physical  and  psychical  and  political  and  social 
facts  of  the  time  which  the  verses  have  for  their 
theme.  The  historical  plays  and  poems  record 
the  life  of  a  former  age,  and  thus  furnish  material 
for  the  social  study  of  a  past  epoch.  "  Locksley 
Hall  "  gives  a  fine  dramatization  of  a  certain 
period  in  the  history  of  England.  The  fact  that 
Tennyson  treats  despair  so  frequently  and  fully 
shows  clearly  a  condition  of  the  time  which  is 
full  of  meaning  for  the  student  of  society.  In 
general  it  may  be  said  that,  from  the  year  1835 
until  the  year  of  his  death,  he  based  his  poetry 
largely  en  the  "  broad  and  common  interests  of 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  245 

the  time  and  of  universal  humanity,"  and  such 
poems  have  permanent  value  in  the  social  liter- 
ature of  the  age.  The  bitter  experiences  through 
which  the  cruelty  of  his  critics  caused  him  to  pass 
gave  him,  after  all,  a  deeper  and  fuller  insight 
into  the  requirements  of  the  time,  and  new  power 
as  a  poet  and  prophet.1  Feeling  as  intensely  as 
he  did  the  "  mechanic  influence  of  the  age,  and  its 
tendency  to  crush  and  overpower  the  spiritual  in 
man ;  "  2  interested  as  he  was  in  science,  politics 
economic  invention,  philosophy,  theology,  philan- 
thropy and  reform,  it  is  not  surprising  that  these 
great  themes  entered  into  his  writings,  and  made 
I  his  verse  a  microcosm  of  the  thought  and  action 
of  his  time.3 

The  value  of  what  he  has  written  is  greatly 
enhanced  by  the  fact  that  there  is  in  it  all  an  ■ 
undertone  of  rational,  intelligent  optimism.  As 
one  who  knew  him  well  said  of  him :  "  He  does 
not  cry  out  against  the  age  as  hopelessly  bad,  but 
tries  to  point  out  where  it  is  bad,  in  order  that 
each  individual  may  do  his  best  to  redeem  it; 
as  the  evils  he  denounces  are  individual,  only  to 
be  cured  by  each  man  looking  to  his  own  heart. 
He  denounced  evil  in  all  its  shapes,  especially 

1  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  123. 
'Ibid.,  p.   169. 
'Ibid.,  p.  185. 


246    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

those  considered  venial  by  the  world  and  soci- 
ety." 4 

In  such  poems  as  "  Lady  Clare,"  "  The  Lord  of 
Burleigh,"  "  Locksley  Hall,"  "  Maud,"  and 
"  Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  Tennyson 
has  given  statements  of  some  of  the  varied  phases 
of  the  social  problem.  But  these  are  only  illus- 
trations of  the  way  in  which  this  grave  question 
enters  into  the  writings  of  this  great  poetic 
genius.  Even  when  he  treats  in  a  large  way  the 
war  of  sense  with  soul,  as  in  "  The  Vision  of 
Sin  "  and  the  "  Idylls,"  he  is  portraying  a  con- 
flict which  is  not  an  incidental  but  a  vital  part 
of  the  problem  that  is  vexing  society.  The  cause 
of  the  social  difficulty  he  believed  to  be  the  sel- 
fish spirit  which  pervades  the  whole  frame  of 
society.  This  spirit  manifests  itself  in  a  thou- 
sand forms,  but  the  problem  is  fundamentally 
one.  What  he  considered  the  two  great  social 
questions  then  pending  in  England  ("the  hous- 
ing and  education  of  the  poor  man  before  making 
him  our  master,  and  the  higher  education  of 
women")  were  to  his  mind  simply  the  phases 
of  the  problem  most  imperatively  demanding  con- 
sideration at  a  given  time.  Linked  with  these 
questions  are  many,  many  others,  any  one  of 
which  may  assume  a  relatively  great  importance 
with  a  change  of  social  and  industrial  conditions. 

'Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  468. 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  247 

The  whole  matter  was  one  of  very  great  serious- 
ness to  him  —  so  serious  that  it  pained  him  to 
hear  anyone  speak  lightly  of  it,  even  in  jest.5 

While  it  is  true  that  Tennyson  did  not  formu- 
late a  program  warranted  to  cure  all  social  ills, 
he  did  point  out  very  clearly  a  principle  which 
must  be  followed,  if  the  problem  is  ever  to  be 
solved.  The  poems  referred  to  in  the  preceding 
paragraph  contain  their  own  suggestions  of  the 
solutions  of  the  problems  they  state.  Commerce 
may  do  something  to  bring  in  the  federation  of 
the  world.  Even  war  for  defense  or  liberty  has 
its  mission  at  a  certain  stage  in  the  evolution  of 
society.  When  the  Chartist  and  socialist  agita- 
tions were  alarming  the  country,  he  believed  the 
remedy  was  not  in  imprisonment,  but  in  a  wide- 
spread national  education,  in  a  more  patriotic  and 
less  partisan  spirit  in  the  press,  in  a  partial  adop- 
tion of  free-trade  principles,  and  in  an  increased 
energy  and  sympathy  among  those  who  belonged 
to  the  different  forms  of  Christianity.6 

But  he  understood  that  such  measures  are  only 
temporary  expedients,  which  may  ameliorate,  but 
which  can  never  cure,  the  social  disorders.  He 
at  first  thought,  with  Shelley,  that  the  cause  of 
social  ills  might  be  removed  by  lopping  off  those 
institutions  in  which  the  selfish  spirit  manifests 

6  Ibid.,  p.  205. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  185. 


248   SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

itself.  He  soon  learned,  however,  that  that 
method  would  not  bring  about  the  desired  result. 
He  became  convinced  that  we  must  implant  an- 
other principle,  with  which  selfishness  cannot  co- 
exist —  a  principle  that,  by  its  superior  attractive 
power,  will  draw  to  itself  the  virtue  and  strength 
which  selfishness  had  before  absorbed.  In  this 
way  the  greed  which  produces  crime  and  misery 
and  every  form  of  social  disease  will  be  banished 
through  the  expulsive  power  of  the  new  and 
stronger  and  nobler  spirit.7  In  the  individual 
and  in  society  it  is  love  which  is  this  redemptive 
principle.  It  manifests  itself  in  disinterested 
service  of  country  and  of  fellow-men.  This  is 
the  redemptive  principle  in  "  Maud."  This  is 
"  the  Christ  that  is  to  be." 

This  may  be  called  an  attempt  to  solve  the 
social  problem  by  the  power  of  an  ideal.  Be  it 
so.  It  is  an  ideal  that  is  thoroughly  workable. 
It  has  a  message  for  every  individual,  every  fam- 
ily, every  nation  and  all  mankind.  It  is  an  ideal 
which  is  today  actually  uplifting  our  earth  into 
the  light.  Telemachus  is  not  the  only  one  of 
whom  it  may  be  said :  "  His  dream  became  a 
deed  that  woke  the  world.8  In  an  age  full  of 
social  wrong,  it  is  true  that 

7  Memoir,  Vol.  I,  p.  69. 

8 "  St.   Telemachus,"  p.  878. 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  249 

wildest  dreams 
Are  but  the  needful  preludes  of  the  truth.* 
The  poet  who  can  dream  dreams  of  a  diviner  man 
and  a  purer  and  higher  social  state,  and  give  to 
those  dreams  beauty  and  power  in  expression  — 
such  an  one  is  rendering  a  service  to  society  which 
is  absolutely  needful  to  the  discovery  and  reali- 
zation of  the  higher  truth.  Because  men  have 
dreamed  in  the  past,  we  of  today  are  working  for 
the  freedom  of  the  individual  through  the  de- 
velopment of  his  highest  capacities,  for  the  per- 
fection of  the  family  in  the  unity  of  love,  for  the 
purification  of  the  nation  through  the  unselfish 
efforts  of  citizen  patriots,  and  for  the  parliament 
of  man,  the  federation  of  the  world.  Because 
of  those  dreams,  thousands  of  noble  souls  in  many 
lands  are  proclaiming  and  living  the  doctrine: 
"  All  for  each  and  each  for  all."  10  The  poet  has 
so  won  men  to  believe  in  the  reality  of  his  ideals 
that  today  there  are  unnumbered  multitudes  who, 
in  spite  of  wars  and  rumors  of  wars,  are  looking 
forward  with  confidence  to  the  time  when  "  all 
men's  good  "  shall 

Be  each  man's  rule,  and  universal  Peace 
Lie  like  a  shaft  of  light  across  the  land, 
And  like  a  lane  of  beams  athwart  the  sea 
Thro'  all  the  circle  of  the  golden  year.11 

9 "The  Princess,"  p.  217. 

10"Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,"  p.  564. 

""The  Golden  Year,"  p.  95. 


250    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 

Thus  the  poet  who  sees  that  the  ideal  is  the  real 
and  who  paints  his  visions  and  his  dreams  be- 
comes a  mighty  force,  making  for  social  prog- 
ress; 

For  he  sings  of  what  the  world  will  be 
When  the  years  have  died  away.12 

12 "  The  Poet's  Song,"  p.   124. 


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Van  Dyke,  Henry.     The  Poetry  of  Tennyson. 

Walker,  Hugh.     The  Age  of  Tennyson. 

Walters,  J.  Cuming.  Tennyson;  Poet,  Philosopher, 
Idealist. 

Ward,  William  G.     Tennyson's  Debt  to  Environment. 

Waugh,  Arthur.  Alfred  Lord  Tennyson:  A  Study  of 
His  Life  and  Work. 


INDEX 


Albert,    Prince,   66,   67,    139,   148, 

234- 
Allen,  James  Lane,   32. 
Allingham,  William,  62. 
Argyll,   Duke   of,    148,   202. 
Arnold,    Matthew,   39. 

Beaconsfield,   Earl   of,   23. 
Bible,   The,    157.   196. 
Blakesley,   J.    W.,    122,    140. 
Brooks,    John    Graham,    9. 
Brotherhood,    103,    106,    108,   ill, 

116,   119,   128,    133,   166,   238. 
Browning,   Mrs.    E.    B.,   43. 

Calvin,   John,    168. 

Cambridge,    191. 

Carlyle,   Thomas,   4,   46,    100. 

Catholics,    56. 

Chapman,   Miss  E.  R.,  67. 

Charity,    121,    222. 

Chartist  Insurrection,  58,  149, 
196. 

Children,  53,  57,  77,  94,  194, 
236. 

Christ,    119,    122,    123,    167,    239. 

Christianity,    157,    241. 

Church,  The,  61,  152,  160,  166, 
241. 

City,   The,   96,    215. 

Clergymen,    171,    175,   242. 

Commerce,   55. 

Communism,    238. 

Constitution,  Use  of  in  Govern- 
ment,   186. 

Co-operative    Movement,    57. 

Corn  Laws,  51,  54. 

Corruption,   in   Government,    129. 

Cranmer,   Thomas,    176. 

Creed,   Tennyson's,    166,   241. 

Crime,    218. 


Dante,    43. 

Democracy,     58,     132,     178,     188, 

197,    239,    242. 
Dissenters,    56. 

Education,  59,    189,    197,  242. 
Edwards,   Jonathan,    28. 
Elizabeth,   Queen,    134. 
Emerson,   R.  W.,  6. 
England,    103,    126,    207. 
Environment,    214. 
Equality,    181,    242. 
Evolution,  68,  69,    142,  203,  227, 
243- 

Factories,    53,    57. 

Fame,   169. 

Family,  The,   82,    101,   236. 

Fielding,    Henry,    8. 

France,    55,    104.    107,    127.    T5°i 

183,    207. 
Francke,   Kuno,   40. 
Freedom,  83,   104,   136,   137,   147, 

151,   169,   194,  214,   237. 
French   Revolution,  82. 
Future,    The,    206. 

Gevaert,  M.,  26,  37. 
Goethe,  J.  W.,  36. 
God,    Tennyson's    Idea    of,     153, 

228,    241,    244. 
Government,    127,    130,    133,    142, 

239- 
Graham,    P.    A.,    54. 
Grattan,   Henry,    56. 
Green,  Thomas  Hill,  6. 

Hall,    S.    C,    174- 

Hallam,     Arthur,     92,     116,     152, 

169,    191. 
Harrison,    Frederic,    6,    7,    20. 
Harum,  David,  28. 


253 


254    SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 


Havelock,   Henry,   67. 
Heredity,  97,   189,  236. 
Hill,   Rowland,   56. 
History,    9. 
Homer,    34. 
Home,   43. 
Hugo,  Victor,   107. 
Hunt,   Leigh,   174. 

Ideals,    32,    36,     120,    212,    232, 

248. 
Immortality,   92. 
Innovation,    146,    240. 
Institutions,   124,   239. 
Intemperance,   220. 
Inventions,    50,    232. 
Ireland,    117. 
Italy,   104. 

Jowett,  Rev.   B.,   203. 

Kemble,  John,  128,  215. 
Kingsley,  Charles,  166. 
Knowledge,   197. 

Land,    212. 

Law,    58,    140,    143,   240. 

Lawlessness,    146. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  44. 

Literature,  difficulty  of  defining, 
4,  s;  debt  to  sociology,  7;  mir 
ror  of  the  times,  8;  charactei 
of,  11 ;  work  it  accomplishes 
15;  studies  the  past,  15;  dis 
covers  principles  of  progress 
17;  calls  attention  to  social 
evils,  21;  relation  to  reform 
22;  brings  society  to  self-con 
sciousness,  24;  expresses  sense 
of  injustice,  30;  embodies  in 
dividual  and  social  ideals,  32: 
helps  create  ideals,  36;  meth- 
ods employed  by,  41,  230, 

London,    128,   216. 

Louth,    194. 

Love,  92,   134,   137.   243- 

Machinery,   52. 

Man,   62,   69,   70,    101,    204,   233. 
Marriage,  83,  101,  112,   120,  236. 
Mary,  Queen,  134,   137. 
Maurice,    Rev.    F.    D.,    60,    157, 
164,  166,  168,   176,  216,  242. 


Milton,    John,    43. 
Mines,   58. 

Money,  86,   106,   in,  113. 
Morris,  Wm.,  61. 

Napoleon,    51,    55,    129,    130. 
Negative   Results,    17. 
Novel,   The,  44. 

Oastler,    58. 

O'Connell,   Daniel,   56,    141. 
Optimism      of      Tennyson,      2ro, 
224,    244. 

Pamela,   3. 

Paris,   128,   151,   183. 

Parkhurst,   Rev.   C.   H.,   36. 

Parliament,   44,    53,    56. 

Parties,    148. 

Past,  The,   15,   18. 

Patriotism,    106,    132,    237. 

Pauperism,    54. 

Pessimism,   208,    227,    243. 

Phelps,   W.   L.,   29. 

Philippe,  Louis,    128. 

Poet,  The,  46,  82,  141,  240,  249. 

Poetry,  44. 

Policy,   87. 

Poor,    The,    52,     109,    115,     188, 

217,    222. 
Pope,  Alexander,  8. 
Postage,    56. 
Poverty,   95,   238. 
Pre-Raphaelite    Movement,    61. 
Press,  The,   113. 
Priests,    170,    241. 
Prisons,   219. 
Problem,    Social,    108,    122,    189, 

217,   237,   243,   246,    247.  , 
Progress,  17,   102,   106,   145,  198, 

206,  213,  224,  228,  242. 
Protestants,    56. 
Punishment,  219. 

Rank,  91,    109,    114,    119,    237. 
Rashdall,    Rev.,    176. 
Reform    Bill,    si- 
Relief,  54,  121. 
Religion,    155,    168,    241. 
Religious  Tolerance,   56,   61,   157. 


INDEX 


255 


Republic,    130. 

Revolution,    107,    127,    152*    182, 

226. 
Richards,    Colonel,    197. 
Richardson,    Samuel,    3,    8. 
Robertson,    Frederick,     168,    177, 

221,    242. 
Rochdale  Pioneers,  57- 
Romanes,   G.   J.,   202. 
Ruskin,    John,    14.    61. 

Sadler,   58. 

Sanitation,    217. 

Science,   69,    168,   200,  243. 

Scudder,   Vida  D.,   7.  39.   4<>. 

Selfishness,   122,  239,  246. 

Self-sacrifice,    102. 

Sentiment,    24. 

Sex,  73. 

Shaftesbury,   Earl  of,   58. 

Simeon,    Sir  J.,    100. 

Smith,  Alexander,   169. 

Smith,   Bosworth,    166,    186. 

Social    Disorder,    122,    149,    196, 

247. 
Socialism,    19,    149- 
Society,  96,   118,  237- 
Sociology,   5,   n>   230. 
Spencer,   Herbert,    19,   205. 
State,    The,    126,    131,    239. 
Statesman,    The,    139,    188,    240. 
Stead,    W.    T.,    67. 
Stowe,  Mrs.  H.  B.,  44- 
Strike,    The    Dockers,    58. 
Swift,  J.,  8. 

Tendencies,     revealed    by    study 

of    past,    18. 
Tennyson,    Alfred,    Poems   of— 
Aenone,    144. 
Akbar's  Dream,    103,   iai,    US. 

146,   156,    167,   201,   223. 
Amphion,   102. 
Ancient    Sage,    The,    97.    199. 

216,  227. 
Audley   Court,  98. 
Aylmer's    Field,    88,    109,    112, 

146,    ISO,    155.    183. 
Beautiful  City,  The,  128,    151, 
183. 


Balin   and    Balan,   64,  97,   162, 

189. 
Becket,    65,    78,    88,    no,    138, 
140,   145,    163.  164,   165,   171, 
174,    176. 
Beggar   Maid,  The,  93- 
Buonaparte,    150. 
Church    Warden    and    the    Cu- 
rate,   The,    174- 
Columbus,    64,    162. 
Coming  of   Arthur,    The,    135. 

136,    160. 
Cup,   The,    181,    185. 
Day  Dream,  The,  89. 
Dawn,   The,    69,    113.    206. 
Dedication,   134. 
Dedication    of    Idylls,    66. 
Defense     of     Lucknow,     The, 

107,   212. 
Demeter  and  Persephone,  78. 
De  Profundis,   63,   126. 
Despair,     118,    156,     167,    173- 
Dora,    94,  99- 
Doubt  and  Prayer,   154- 
Duke     of     Argyll,     The,     139. 

148,    151. 
Edwin     Morris,     75.     84,     173. 

216. 
Enoch   Arden,  95,    114.    155- 
Epic,    The,    172. 
Epilogue,    107,   212. 
Faith,   167. 
Flight,    The,    85. 
Flower  in   the   Crannied   Wall, 

The,    102. 
Foresters,    The,    85,    88,     105, 
109,  in,  ns.   133.  135.  145. 
164,   165,   171,  213,  218. 
Freedom,    138,    147,    149,    i5i» 

187,   198. 
Gardener's  Daughter,   The,  90, 

98. 
Gareth    and    Lynette,    93.    "». 

118,    136,    160. 
Geraint     and     Enid,     66,     130, 

136,    145.   209. 
Godiva,  98,   180. 
Golden    Year,    The,    113,    228. 
Guinevere,    66,    130. 
Hands   All     Round,     104,    132. 
140,  220. 


256     SOCIAL  IDEALS  OF  ALFRED  TENNYSON 


Harold,   66,  86,   131,    133.    138, 

140,  163,   167,  181,   189,  209, 

219. 
Higher     Pantheism,    The,    101, 

144,    153- 
Holy  Grail,  The,   69,   137,    '55, 

165. 
Idylls,  The,  126,   131,   139,  148. 
In   Memoriam,   62,    65,   68,   70, 

92,    93,    103,    113,    1:7,    120, 

144,  153,   158,   159.   167,   168, 
181,   191,   199,  201,  204,  205, 

211,    214,    215,    225,    228,    229. 

In     the     Children's     Hospital, 

158,  200. 
Isabel,   73. 

Lady  Clara  Vere  de  Vere,  91. 
Lady  Clare,  92,  98,   108. 
Lancelot  and  Elaine,   no,  136. 
Last   Tournament   The    64,    94, 

145.  223. 

Locksley   Hall,   68,    74.   94,   98. 

112,     146,     180,     187,    201,    228, 
229. 

Locksley  Hall,  Sixty  Years 
After,  63,  64,  66,  96,  97, 
107,  109,  115,  118,  128,  149, 
151,  184,  194.  206^  207,  212, 
217,  223. 

Lord  of  Burleigh,  The,  92,  98. 

Lotos    Eaters,    The,    89. 

Love  and  Duty,   63,    150,   227. 

Love  Thou  Thy  Land,  129, 
147,    198,    211. 

Making  of  Man,  The,  69. 

Margaret,    74. 

Marriage   of   Geraint,   The,   63. 

Maud,  68,  93,  95,  96,  106, 
no,  113,  114.  118,  139,  153, 
165,  173,  203,  204,  208,  211, 
216. 

May  Queen,  The,  76. 

Mechanophilus,    199,    207. 

Merlin    and    the    Gleam,    165 

Merlin  and  Vivian,  179,  199 
207. 

Miller's  Daughter,  The,  89 
108. 

Morte  D'  Arthur,  125,  159 
172. 

Northern    Cobbler,    The,    221 

Northern  Farmer,  The,  88 
ii5- 


Ode  at  International  Exhibi- 
tion,   108,     143. 

Ode  on  the  Death  of  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  102,  105, 
127,     139,    184,    187. 

On  the  Jubilee  of  Queen  Vic- 
toria,   121,    154,    201,    207. 

Palace  of  Art,   The,    143,   180. 

Passing  of   Arthur,    The,    125, 

130,  137.     147,     153- 
Play,   The,   208. 
Poet,  The,  82. 

Princess,  The,  64,  65,  75,  76, 
77,  84,  89,  90,  95,  117,  127, 
144,  145.  153.  183.  188,  190, 
194.    199.    214. 

Promise  of  May,  The,  68,  80. 
83,  85,  in,  115,  119,  156. 
165,  190,  204,  209,  214,  218, 
221. 

Queen  Mary,  79,  87,  104,  no, 
112,  115,  119,  120,  131,  134, 
137.   138,   162,   167,   171,  176, 

190,    20O,    219,    22T- 

Riflemen   Form,    138. 

Ring,    The,    74,    200. 

Rizpah,  145,  218. 

Sea    Dreams,     109,     125,     173, 

216,  218. 
Sir   John    Oldcastle,    162,    171. 
Spinster's       Sweet-Arts,      The, 

95- 
St.   Simeon   Stylites,   178. 
St.  Telemachus,    158. 
Talking    Oak,     The,    98,     161, 

216. 
Third   of    February,   The,    105, 

127,  212. 
Tiresias,    132,    179,    184. 
Tithonus,    112. 
To  J.    M.   K.,    175. 
To    Rev.    F.    D.   Maurice,    117, 

164,  216. 
To  the  Queen,    112,    128,    129, 

131,  134,  187,  198,  206. 
To  Victor  Hugo,  107,  207. 
Two    Voices,    The,    205,    208, 

210,  228. 
Ulysses,  71,  214. 
Vastness,    179,    208. 
Village    Wife,    The,    156,    189, 

217. 
Vision    of   Sin,    The,    63,    178. 


INDEX 


257 


Voice  and  the   Peak,   The,  65. 

Voyage,    The,    123. 

Walking  to  the  Mail,  91,   109, 
I98. 

Welcome,  A,  222. 

Will   Waterproof,   210. 

Wreck,  The,   84,   97,    101. 
Tennyson,    Charles,    175. 
Tennyson,   Emily,    128. 
Time,  227,   244. 
Torrijos,      152. 
Trades   Unions,    57. 
Trevor,    61. 
Truth,    140. 

University    Extension,    196,    243. 

Vere,  Aubrey  de,    116. 


Victorian    Era,    7. 
Victoria,    Queen,    54,    133,    138, 
239. 

War,    128,    129,    159,    2ii,    243. 

Waterloo,    51. 

Wellington,     Duke     of,     51,     67, 

139- 
Westcott,   Bishop,   70. 
Will,    Free,    67,     169.     See    also 

Freedom. 
William   the  Conqueror,    138. 
Women,  58,  60,  72,   76,  80,  218, 

220,    234. 
Wordsworth,   150. 

Zueblin,   Charles,   49. 


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